Supernatural Serendipity
by Fire Sage
Summary: Ikebukuro was the last place she wanted to be. But she had made a promise, so she was here. And to be honest she didn't know what was waiting for her when she got off the train. "I guess the world is a big place and has all sorts of people to offer."
1. Last Stop Ikebukuro

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_Author's Note: So I'm starting a new fanfic genre and expanding my ficcery horizons. Super excited! Since this is my first Durarara fic ever I would really appreciate any assistance or feedback on the story to let me know how the characters feel. I also like my reader's (if I have any) opinion. Okay! On with the show! Or rather fic..._**

* * *

_"Ikebukuro, why the hell would you want to go there?"_

_"I don't know! I had a vision that our destiny is there onee-chan. Just trust me! My visions are never wrong! Promise we'll go there when we get out, ok. Promise!"_

_"Okay, okay! I promise we'll go to Ikebukuro when we get out."_

_"Yaaaaay! Onee-chan~! Onee-chan~!"_

Nausika's eyes open slowly as the dream fades into the sound of the train clanging against the metal line. She had fallen asleep? That wasn't like her. She always had trouble sleeping in private, let alone public. Sleeping in public was homely and dangerous in her opinion. But then again, she doubted any real danger would befall her currently and when you haven't slept in days even the old, hard, plastic seat of a train car can be comforting.

_:Ladies and gentlemen, we will be arriving in Ikebukuro shortly. Please collect your things and wait until the train comes to a complete stop before exiting. Again, we are arriving in Ikebukuro. Please collect your things and wait until the train comes to a complete stop before exiting.:_

The crackled voice over the pager system brings Nausika quickly up to speed and fully awake. _'Here all ready? What time is it?'_ She thinks and rubs the heel of her hand into one eye as she looks at her watch with the other. Her teal eyes refocus on 18:36 and the blonde sneers before she flops back in the seat. _'Damn train! And here I thought I was early! Turns out I'm late!'_

She doesn't let it bother her so much though. It's not worth getting mad over something she couldn't change. And what was she rushing to get to anyway.

The train stops at the station and the other passengers get off.

Nausika waits. She really isn't in a hurry and it's going to take her a minute to get her bags from up top. It's easier to do that when people aren't trying to get past. And she's really not in the mood to get jostled and accidently groped by the masses.

Once the crowd dies down, she gets up from her seat and pulls her bags from up top. Her long legs protest, first from being cramped in a small space for so long and then again from being weighted down with her luggage. Two canvas duffels and a shoulder bag aren't necessarily light, but it is considering it's all she has.

One bag on her back, another on her shoulder, and the final one in hand, the blonde twenty-four year old exits the train cab and then the station.

_'So this is Ikebukuro hn? Doesn't seem so special to me.'_ Nausika thought with a slight frown.

It's loud and crowded and overly colorful. It reminds her of Shinjuku or Osaka or a thousand other places she didn't want to be. She wanted to the country or maybe even leave Japan all together. But she had made a promise to Chidori and she couldn't live with herself if she broke it and her sister would never forgive her. So, for now, she'd stay.

"Excuse me. Are you lost?" The blonde looks to her left at the younger, darker blonde haired boy in a white hoodie speaking to her in horrible English. His accent is almost too thick to understand what he's saying.

Nausika narrows her eyes at him slightly. He thinks she's a foreigner. She can't really be mad at him though. She knows she looks out of place with her blonde hair and purple highlights, blue-green eyes, and height that towers over typical Japanese women. She looks too much like her mother. But not enough to fit in amongst her mother's 'people' either. In the States she looks too Japanese.

"No, I'm not lost. I'm just trying to get my bearings." She tells him in Japanese. She speaks English too, but it's painfully obvious that it's his far second. Besides, she hadn't spoken Japanese in a while. She's missed her native tongue.

"Ah! So you speak Japanese! Sorry for thinking you're a tourist. A lot of pretty women stumble off the train lost and looking for directions." The boy tells her and Nausika arches a brow. Really? Was this kid, probably not even close to finishing high school, hitting on her? Really?

"Nope, just looking for a place to eat." She replies calmly, hands slipping into her front pockets. She hopes her tone and body language is enough for him to get the hint.

"Ah! Well if you're looking for a good place to eat, there's a great soba noddle place just a block down that way from here! I was gonna take my friend there as his first meal in Ikebukuro." The kid says and enthusiastically loops his arm around a shorter, black haired boy's neck.

"Masaomi, cut it out!" The other boy complains.

"Soba noodles, great." She replies tiredly. She not really in the mood for soba noodles. What she really is in the mood for is Mexican food. But she doubts anywhere in Ikebukuro has decent Mexican food and she really isn't in the mood to spend the night in a bathroom once she gets a hotel room for the evening. _'Soba noodles it is then.'_

"Help my purse! Somebody that man has my purse!"

The kids turn to look down the street at where the screaming is coming from. But Nausika still looks bored as she surveys the city in front of her. _'I hate cities.'_

The sea of people start to part in lieu of getting run over as snickering thug, probably not more than a late teenager, runs up the street while knocking people out of his way. He feels really proud of himself, clutching an old ladies handbag towards his chest.

As he gets closer to Masaomi and Mikado they step back like everyone else. Nausika just takes her hands out of her pockets and crosses them over her chest. _'Why me?'_

Just as the thug is about to pass a hand snaps out, grabs him by the collar, and the momentum of his abrupt stop drops him to the ground. The punk blinks from his position on the ground, seeming confused as to how he ended up on his back so suddenly, before a boot heel smashes into his abdomen.

"Don't you know you're not supposed to take things that don't belong to you?" Nausika asks the screaming man as she grinds her heel into him like he really was the trash she thinks he is and picks up the fallen purse. "This really isn't your color anyway. Brown doesn't really go well with blue kid." She adds and picks her foot up and kicks him a little bit to send him on his way.

"Oh thank you! I can't believe you…" The woman trails off when she get a good look at her. There seems to be a flash of something across her eyes. Something that Nausika knows is scared.

"Don't mention it. You should hang on to your things better." The blonde tells her and hold out the purse to its owner.

The woman hesitantly reaches for it before snatching it quickly. She gives a very curt bow and scurries back off into the crowd. Nausika burrows her brows at her retreating form. She hadn't expected a reward or anything, but a better response would have been nice.

"It's your jacket." Nausika turns back to the blonde haired kid next to her and looks at him curiously, confused as to what her leather jacket has to do with anything. "It's yellow. She thinks you're a part of the yellow scarf color gang." Masaomi explains with a smile. "You should really think about wearing another color, now that you're here."

"Thanks," She replies and starts walking off in the direction of supposed soba noodles. She not in the mood to chit-chat with high schoolers anymore and she's not getting rid of her jacket just because some gang picked the color.

In the distance, Nausika swears she can hear a loud crash and bang of metal being scrapped and then the whinny of a horse up the street. _'I hate this place already.'_

* * *

_So that is the very first chapter! Please tell me what you think so far. I know it's early but any and all feedback on this new adventure would be greatly appreciated!_

_Thank you for reading!_

_Also, yes, Nausika is pronounced like 'Nausika of the Valley of the Winds' and yes I know that's not how it's spelled (that spelling is Greek)_


	2. Waffles at 10

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_Author's Note: Thank you to Tiryn and KittyoftheNight for being my first reviewers :3 Also a thank you to those that followed and faved. _**

* * *

The sun had been up for a while before it finally pierced the curtains of Nausika's hotel room enough to wake the sleeping beauty. She had never been an early riser. Unless she absolutely had to, she honestly wouldn't be up until noon. If she had it her way that's when all days would start.

A set of teal eyes open slowly and it takes her a minute to remember where she is before she sits up with a stretch. With the stiffness in her long limbs gone, Nausika flopped her arms into her lap and licking her dry lips with a smack she glances through her lashes and curtain of blonde hair at the picture on her night stand. It was the only thing she had bothered to take out of her bags when she got into the room.

"Well, Chidori, now what?" She asks casually, running her fingers through her golden hair streaks with tiny highlights of purple.

The picture of a smiling twenty something, black of hair and pale skinned like their father, but with eyes that matched her own said nothing. Yet, somehow, that girl with the wide smile, winking expression, and flashing her a peace sign still had all the answers for her.

Nausika smiles faintly, as if in nostalgia. "Yeah, yeah, I know what I have to do. But first I need a shower and some breakfast. You think there's a place I can get Belgium waffles around here?"

The blonde catalogues, as she stumbles out of bed to the bathroom while scratching the back of her head, that she needs to stop having cravings for 'foreign foods' now that she's living in Japan again.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, Nausika can get waffles in Ikebukuro at 10 in the morning. She had stumbled into a diner a few blocks down from the hotel. It's a chotskie fabrication of an American dinner and severs western food to patrons. It's almost tacky with how much they over did it, but the food is still pretty decent.

As she sips her third cup of coffee, Nausika scans the paper looking for apartments up for rent. She knows she needs to lay off the caffeine….And drinking….And probably all those trans-fats all the good foods have, but she'll work on her vices another day.

Right now, she needs a place to live and a job to keep. She can't live in a hotel for the rest of her life and her savings, though immense, will not last forever.

Nausika grumbles as she sits her coffee cup down and pulls at her ponytail draped down the front of one shoulder, a nervous habit of hers.

The apartment was easy. There were several ads in the paper for good ones, in neighborhood she had already researched, near her price range.

The job thing was going to be more difficult. She wasn't really good at anything.

Well, that's not entirely true. She was good at some things.

She was good at cooking, and cleaning, and organizing, and running, and running from things, and not dying, and ruining things, and breaking stuff, and hurting people, and ending things, and-Nausika pulls her hair hard like it's the emergency stop cord on a bus to halt the train of thought. The voice in her head, which still sounds like Chidori, chides her for being so hard on herself.

Nausika had always been her worst critique. Well, that wasn't true. Her mother had been but she had been more than six feet under for years and her ghost couldn't hurt her anymore.

Chidori was her best cheerleader. Always so positive and seeing the good in everything.

Chidori liked her cooking.

Ok, so cooking.

She guesses she can start there. It's not something she, and hopefully anyone else, would expect her to start her career over in. But she's only ever had one job. And kind of the point of coming here was to leave that job and life behind.

"If you keep that up, you're gonna be bald by the time you finish your bacon." The blonde looks up from her musing and the paper at a black haired man in a big, fur rimmed coat smirking down at her. "You have such pretty hair. It'd be a shame if you lost it."

Nausika looks at the stranger with a bored look before she turns back and picks up her coffee. "I'm not interested."

Out of the corner of her eyes, she can see that the young man is taken back by her bluntness. She admits that he's cute. He's probably not used to being turned down so abruptly in his flattery. But the stranger recovers and he's back to smirking at her like a cat. He even takes a seat.

"I think you have the wrong idea. I just wanted to say hello. Your new in town aren't you? I know everyone around here and I would remember seeing you."

"You know all couple thousand people in Ikebukuro?" She asks skeptically over the rim of her cup. What was with this town? Most people knew she didn't like to be talked to. Hell, even her best friends had told her she was unapproachable on a _good _day. But this stupid place? First some kid, now this shady guy slides up to her like she's a new toy to play with. _'I hate this goddamn place'_

The ravenette chuckles lightly with a smile. "Well, I guess not. But I do make it my mission to know all the interesting ones."

"I'm not that interesting." Nausika deadpans. She's getting very bored and very irritated with this shifty character. She's had enough shifty character in her life. She doesn't need more.

"Hmmm…not interesting you say? We'll see about that." He says cheekily and get up from the stool and walks out of the diner.

Nausika glares at him as he leaves. Something didn't sit right with her about that guy, something not right at all. Even though he hasn't said anything really threatening, the hairs on the back of her neck stand up out of instinct whenever she feels a storm coming.

"Hey, that's her! That's that girl right there!" The blonde's attention is drawn to the other entrance at the loud ruckus coming near her. "I'm sure of it boss! That's her!" Nausika remembers the guy pointing at her from yesterday. He's the punk she dropped for stealing a lady's purse when she got off the train. He's brought friends.

"So you're the scarf head that messed up my boy on the street?" One guy, older than the thug and who she assumes is 'the boss', asks her. He has a disgusting smile filled with gold teeth as he leers at her. She can't tell if its distain or lust or a mixture of both, she is pretty after all, but honestly she doesn't care.

"Maybe your boy should think about ripping off little old ladies on the street. And I'm not one of those yellow scarf things." Nausika retorts, returning to the paper in front of her. She doesn't have the patience to deal with shmucks and losers all day. And she's suddenly in a very serious mental debate of wearing the 'do not disturb' sign from her hotel room around her neck when she goes out next time.

"He can do whatever he wants or _I_ tell him to! We're blue squares!" He tells her proudly. But the blonde is still unimpressed.

"Wow…blue squares. Now if you can just get some white squares, some green squares, some red squares, some orange squares, and some yellow squares, you can make a fucking rubik's cube." She snaps at them in a bored tone that sends the group into a taken aback shock. "Piss off! I'm in no mood to deal with wanna-be gangsters with their heads so far up their asses they can't see the light of day. And I'm in no mood to teach you some manners." She quips, with a fierce sharpness that cuts deeper than a blade.

The men all stand shell shocked but then their 'strong leader' snaps out of it and lunges at her. The sound of plateware and glass hitting the floor echoes through the diner at the brief scuffle. It's not even a scuffle really. That would suggest there was some sort of fight and there wasn't. It took Nausika three seconds to get out of her seat and have the man's head plastered to the bar with his arm wrenched so far up his back it was a wonder it hadn't snapped in two.

"Now listen here: I don't know who the hell you guys are and frankly I don't give a shit. I dropped your _boy_ because he was a thieving punk who probably doesn't have an IQ high enough to do anything but steal. It has nothing to do with my jacket or whatever stupid fucking reason you thought of to come find me! Now I'm only going to say this once, so pay attention: I want to be left alone. I don't want any trouble from anybody. This is your gangs' one and only _peaceful_ warning. Next time this happens you'll be shittin' out your teeth for a week when I knock them down your throat." Somehow, the speech would have been less scary if she had been yelling at them like she wanted to. But Nausika was always cool under pressure. And she had learned over time that a mad man threatening to kill you was less persuasive than a calm one doing it to you. It told them this wasn't something you thought of in the heat of the moment. You were serious.

"Ok, ok! Just let me go before you break my arm lady!" The guy whines feeling the pressure on his arm tightening with each second.

The blonde sneers and releases him. The blue square scurries back to his friends quickly and with one cold stare from a pair of teal eyes had them sprinting from the door.

With all the excitement gone, Nausika can now feel all the eyes in the room on her. She sneers and blushes angrily while ducking her face. _Damnit! I guess I can't come back here again. Maann, I really kinda liked this place!_ The purple highlighted woman thinks angrily as she pulls out her wallet and paying for her meal plus a hefty tip for her waitress for the ruckus.

Nausika doubts short of a meteor falling into the place right now, she wouldn't be let back in.

"IZZAAYYAA!"

It's not a meteor. But a vending machine will do just as well, she thinks.

* * *

_Again, please tell me what you think so far. I know it's early but any and all feedback on this new adventure would be greatly appreciated!_

_Thank you for reading!_


	3. Yellow Jacket san

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_Author's Note: Thank you to KittyoftheNight, ShatteredSoul37, and xKiriXKurox for reviewing last time :3 Also a thank you to those that followed and faved. I'm glad people are liking the story so far. Oh, and also, Nausika is from Japan originally and is half Japanese. She left for some work and recently returned, but we'll get to that later..._**

* * *

"..And here is the kitchen. You'll have plenty of space for all your pots and accessories. And over the sink there's a small window box for flowers and herbs. Do you like to garden dear?"

"I don't know. I've never tried." Nausika answered honestly as she ran her fingers across the edge of the kitchen counters. The apartment is typical of any one bedroom. There's a living room, a kitchenette, one bathroom, and a master bedroom. It comes furnished and isn't tacky like she thought it would be, which she's excited about.

"Oh I'm sure you'd be good at it. You look like the type patient and nurturing enough to make the plants grow." The old woman in the greying years said with a crescent eyed smile.

"I don't know about nurturing, but I guess I'll give it a try." The blonde replied and looked around. The simple brown couch, wooden coffee and end tables, and bookcase make up the living room. When she moves into the small hallway she can see through the open door that a dresser, mirror, and futon frame make up the bedroom. She'll have to get a mattress and linens, but that's fine.

"If you decide to take it, you're free to decorate the place however you want." The land lady tells her in an attempt to continue small talk.

"Thanks," Nausika replies, sliding her hands into the front pockets of her dark jeans while still looking around even though she's seen everything.

She thinks that she's subconsciously looking around to see if she can see herself living here. She almost _wants_ the feeling that she could, that spark that people get when they start picturing their future and where they'll put their things, but she really couldn't. Up until a few months ago, a thought like her being here would have been absurd. She had never settled down before. And she had never wanted to. She had never had a home of her own before, not since she was a child in her mother's care. But this place looks well enough, livable, clean, accommodating. And she almost forces herself to think _'Blue curtains would be nice'_ before she says, "I'll take it."

The old woman seems startled by the sudden phrase. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. When can I move in?" Nausika asks, turning to face the woman with a bland look and easy stance.

"Well, the paperwork will take a few days to do. How soon did you want to move in?"

"Tomorrow if that's possible." Nausika tells her and the woman's eyes widen in surprise.

"Tomorrow?! That seems a little fast." She says scratching her head.

"I just want to get this taken care of and out of the way." The younger woman answers seriously while crossing her arms. She wants to get this over with and her patience for small talk and chit-chat is wearing thin. "I can pay you for the inconvenience and the first three months' rent in advance if that's your concern." So she moves to bribing her, legally of course. She can't really threaten or hurt her; she's just a little old lady. So her options for…persuasion are limited.

"Three…three months?! You have that kind of money on hand?!"

"I do on pre-paid cards if you take 'em." Nausika replied calmly and pulls on out of the deck of loadable cards she's put her life's savings on. Carrying around stacks of cash was cliché and tacky anyways.

* * *

It only takes Nausika a few hours to move in. Once her bill at the hotel is settled and she walks the several blocks to her new place. It takes her longer to get there than unpack. Her bags were mostly filled with clothes, a few personal items, and some things she doesn't feel comfortable parting with yet. She hopes, truly hopes, that there will be a day when she can get rid of some of them. However, she doubts there will ever be a day when she's ready to be without them again.

But with her clothes put away, her things in their new places, and she's cleaned the imaginary dust off her new furnishing, Nausika sits on the couch alone and stares on her blank walls.

It doesn't last long though. She's in no mood to look at her walls. And even less in a mood to think. Thinking leads to remembering and remembering leads to awful things. So instead she pulls out a pad and pen stolen from the hotel and starts making a list. She likes list. She likes order. They keep her from thinking.

The blonde writes down all the things she has left to do and things she needs to get now that she has a place in Ikebukuro.

_1) __Find employment_

_2) __Get futon mat_

_3) __Get curtains_

_4) __Need cookware_

_5) __Flatware and dishes (not plastic (fuck plastic))_

_6) __Get food_

_7) _

Whatever lucky number seven was going to be was going to have to wait as Nausika's stomach roared loudly at the reminder it hadn't been feed since 10 this morning. It was 8 pm now. My how time flies….

Nausika sighs and goes to the kitchen to smack the magnetic pad onto her fridge before leaving. It's easy for her to see. It's harder for her to not accomplish things when they are staring right at her.

She slips on her yellow biker jacket at the door and tosses her blonde hair out from it to let it fall just past her shoulders before on she slips on her boots. She needs a haircut, she thinks. Maybe that will be lucky number seven on her list when she gets back.

* * *

It's dark in Ikebukuro when Nausika leave her apartment to prowl the streets in search for a grocery store. It's almost hard to tell though really. The harsh, garish lights of neon and the city light up the world as if it were day. It's still crowded and loud too. She wonders briefly when all these people sleep.

She has mild insomnia. What's their excuse?

"Hey, yellow jacket-san!" Nausika looks up from her musing as the shifty man from this morning approaches her. "Long time no see! How you been yellow jacket-san?!" He asks with a wide grin and crescent eyed expression.

Nausika frowns and narrows her eyes at him. She doesn't like how he's approaching her, like they were old friends or something. His familiarity is uncalled for. They had only met this morning and even if she had known him all her life she doubts she would ever consider someone like him a friend.

"What's with that face yellow jacket-san? Are you not happy to see me?" The black haired man asks, and despite sounding hurt the wide smirk on his face doesn't leave nor does that glimmer in his red eyes.

"Not really. Who the hell are you anyway?" Nausika asks, crossing her arms under the ample bust.

"Ah! How exciting! It's been sooo long since anyone hasn't known who I am!" The man says, practically cheers, in an ominous manner. "I am Izaya Orihara, certified genius and underground informant to those in need!" He announces with an exaggerated bow like an actor on the stage.

"Modesty isn't your strong suit is it?" Nausika quips and she hears a deep chuckle from the man in front of her who grins up at her through his slashes.

"My, my, what a sharp tongue you have yellow jacket-san. And here I thought your strengths were just physical based on this morning." Izaya tells her as he stands and Nausika narrows her eyes at him.

She gets the feeling that her running into him and then those punks this morning are not a coincidence. Izaya laughs lightly as if he can hear her thoughts. "Don't miss understand. That _was_ a coincidence. I just stuck around outside to watch." He tells her, his head lulls to the side to look at her critically.

Teal eyes narrow into slits at him. She doesn't like the way he's looking at her, like she's an experiment in a petri dish. "So, instead of helping me or calling the cops, you just stood outside and wanted to watch me get assaulted?" She asks angrily and uncrosses her arms, her stance becoming more defensive despite looking more open.

Izaya laughs again, loudly and his head falls back like he's heard some great joke. "Don't worry yellow jacket-san, if you were in any danger I would have help~." He tells her with a wide grin as he slithers closer to her.

Nausika doesn't move, but she tenses just a fraction. Not in fear, but in preparation to strike him if he gets any closer. Somehow, she can tell he somehow can read this, and he goes back to his original position. His hands slack in his jacket pockets. "But I did want to see what would happen. And if I interfered I couldn't collect enough data on you."

"Data?" Nausika questions and Izaya sees the flash in her eyes and the third shift in her stance. _Hmmm…interesting, interesting…he,he,he…_

"Yes, yellow jacket-san, data. I like watching new and interesting things in this city. And you're new and interesting. Very interesting." Izaya crows cheekily.

The blonde seems to relax for a second and she looks bored again. "I'm not really that interesting. And I don't like to be watched." She tells him, warns really.

But Izaya just chuckles again gleefully. "Well, I didn't really ask for your permission, now did I yellow jacket-san." He tells her and starts circling her cautiously like an animal. It interests him that this doesn't intimidate her, but the word 'data' does.

"IZZAAYYAA!" The teal eyed blonde and the red eyed raven turn to look down the street at the murderous blonde brawling toward them. Nausika can see he's carrying something. Something big and bulky.

"Oh man, twice in one day? Yellow jacket-san, yellow jacket-san, save me, save me!" Izaya cries in mocking fear and spins on the ball of one foot behind her to use her as a shield.

"Please don't fucking touch me." Nausika drones over her shoulder at him. And Izaya grins evilly. _Interesting priorities when a dog like Shizuo is brawling toward you…interesting, interesting…._

The blonde man in a bartender's uniform comes closer and she blinks for a second when she realizes the big bulky something is a vending machine. Izaya takes note of this with an intrigued smirk. The flash isn't fear or worry. It's bland interest. _Now what kind of a girl isn't scared about vending machines being thrown at them….? So very interesting…_

And apparently, the type of girl who isn't scared of vending machines getting thrown at them are ones that can dodge him. As soon as the heavy metal box is thrown at them with a roar, Nausika does some kind of side step twist move that Izaya thinks is quiet extraordinary and almost doesn't miss the machine himself.

"Careful, Shiz-chan! Don't want to hurt poor innocent bystanders with your barbarism." Izaya mocks.

"Go to hell you damn flea!" The angry blonde roars and picks up the machine again to throw it. It's big so Izaya can dodge it easily again. He's laughing manically as the contents of the machine spill out of the ground.

Nausika watches the scene from the sidelines and looks down calmly when a soda rolls into the toe of her boot. She looks at it, curiously, and then picks it up just as Izaya disappears like a ghost into the crowd.

* * *

Shizuo seethes angrily as the brunette skitters off like a cockroach into the city. Or at least, that's how Shizuo thinks he leaves. Because Izaya is an insect, a flea! A blood sucking parasite always up to no good and one day, **one day**, he was going to get what was coming to him. The more he thinks about it, the more he wants to run after him.

But just as he's about to a spray of fizzy soda rains down on him. That immediately knocks the blonde out of whatever plan he had come up with during his rage and his anger is instantly replaced with confusion. The quick shift in his emotions leaving him stunned.

"That's the second good one today."

Shizuo blinks and looks down at the woman about half a head shorter than him holding a grape soda can near his face. "You were on the east side earlier today weren't you? You threw another one through a diner didn't you? I didn't see you, but I recognize the yelling and the throwing. You ruined my waffles and that vending machine had pop rocks in it. I like those." She explains calmly, much more calmly than anyone has ever talked to him after one of his rampages. He's pretty sure _no one_ has ever come up to him during one of his rages. Most people shrink away or duck for cover.

She almost looks bored with him; as if his tantrum were some big inconvenience to her personally and not just that he may have almost killed her with a vending machine earlier that day. He's pretty sure he might of. Even though he's still confused and shocked, he remembers seeing Izaya earlier that day and crushing the front of a diner that severed good waffles and milkshakes he liked. But he can't tell her that because he's still to dumbfound to speak.

The woman lowers the can to inspect it critically before holding it out to him. "Do you like grape?"

She's offering the half empty can to him, he realizes, and although he doesn't like grape he takes it slowly, still too struck by the surrealness of the moment to speak. He's sticky with purple soda on his face and this woman his talking to him plainly and unafraid.

"You should check what's in the machines next time before you throw them. That one had orange soda in it too. Do you know how hard it is to find vending machine that vends orange soda? It's damn near impossible. You should really be more considerate to others if you're going to break things." She tells him while stuffing her hands into her pockets. And still she's completely calm and sounds like this is all a big inconvenience to her personally.

Shizuo just blinks and gaps like a fish as he tries to find words to speak. Later he'll realize how much of an idiot he looks like. Blinking like a dolt, gasping for words, covered in grape soda and demolition dust, while he just stands there and looks at this woman who looks bored and stands unafraid.

She arches a brow and looks him up and down before her lips curl into an uninterested sneer. "This is boring now. I need groceries." She announces and turns on her heels and walks away. She picks up a stray can of orange soda on the way and the sea of the crowd parts to let her by. Apparently Shizuo Heiwajima isn't the only one dumbfounded by what just happened.

* * *

_Yaaay longer chapter! Thank you again to all those that reviewed last time! __Again, please tell me what you think so far. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated and helpful!_

_Thank you for reading!_


	4. Practice what you preach

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_Author's Note: Due to the glitch earlier today, it's double chapter upload day! Thank you to the Anonymous reviewer earlier today. I can't thank you personally via PM like the others without a name but still thank you :). Also, since my stories are winding down, I'm instituting a new contest. Reviewer number 10 gets their own drabble completed (I always wanted to do something like this but never had the time)._**

* * *

She realizes that it's childish really. That it's stupid. It's stupid really that she's spending more time debating on which flavor of juice boxes to get than the apartment she just got, but she really doesn't care. It's also stupid to make a special trip just for juice boxes, but she really doesn't care about that either. The store she found last night didn't have them and she wanted juice boxes not juice.

It may seem trivial to someone else, but to her it's a big difference. And it's not like she had anything else better to do today.

Nausika literally weighs her options in her hands, brow furrowed and a pout on her face. She likes apple, but she really wants fruit punch. She finally gets frustrated, mutters screw it, and tosses both sets in her basket.

'_I'll drink the damn things anyway.'_

She wishes Chidori were here. She'd feel better about getting two sets of juice boxes and the younger Yumi could tell her if she'd like it or not with her sight. It was easier to shop with Chidori. She knew when the sales were coming, if new things we're good or disgusting, and which bags of Skittles had the best red/purple to other color ratios. And if she was wrong, she'd eat the green ones so Nausika wouldn't have to. She's is pretty sure Chidori screwed up her predictions on purpose now and then just to get a free bag to herself.

_'But oneee-saann! I can't be right **all** the time!'_

Nausika smiles faintly at the memory of her sister's whining. She's suddenly in the mood for Skittles, but the thought of getting them puts a brick in her stomach.

She'd probably end up with mostly green ones anyway.

* * *

Shizuo is not having the best day.

His and Tom's clients of the day had been difficult to say the least. One had tried to run. Another had tried to hide in his apartment like they were idiots and could hear him. Another pair had actually tried to fight him and Tom off. That….did not go well for them. Shizuo is pretty sure one of them still hadn't woken up yet from the punch Shizuo gave him.

Shizuo sighs heavily and takes another drag of his smoke.

He's leaning up against the brick wall of a building, smoking a cigarette, and waiting for Tom to get done with the client inside.

Tom had told him to just stay here and if he wasn't out in fifteen minutes he could come in and rough the guy up a little bit.

He feels a little put off by it, like he's an attack dog told to sit until its master needs him, but he tries to not let it bother him. Or at least bother him too much.

Shizuo glanced up at the crowd passing by before he takes another drag, but stops before the cigarette reaches his mouth. _'Yellow jacket….That's that girl that from last night, right? The one with the flea…Izaaaaya…!'_ Shizuo growls quietly as his blood begins to boil at the thought of the informant being back in town. He breaks the cigarette in half before dropping it and crushes it under his shoe.

"Well, that was easy enough. I love it when they give up quietly." Tom says as he walks out of the building, sliding the wad of bills into his jacket. Tom's brows rise when he sees Shizuo, all wound up like he's looking for a fight. "Hey, man, you ok?"

"Yeah, fine Tom." Shizuo says, but it's not very convincing. "Hey Tom, you mind if I take a break for a bit?"

Tom's expression flashes in surprise at the question before shrugging. "Yeah, sure. Why? You got somewhere you need to be?"

"Yeah, I'll see you later." Shizuo mutters before he walks down the street. Tom sighs and shakes his head. _'I really hope he doesn't break anything expensive this time'_

* * *

Nausika walks down the crowded street with a plastic bag of her purchases in one hand and a juice box in the other. People look at her oddly. It's an interesting sight, she supposes, what with a tall blonde in her twenties with purple highlight in white shades and a yellow biker jacket sipping a juice box meant for children.

She doesn't care though. She has long since recovered from the addiction most people suffer from about giving a damn about what other people thought of her. She realizes that this attitude is probably not cohesive to her decision to lead a new life, but she doesn't give a damn about that either. She honestly doubts she'll be here that long anyway. This place bores her already. And it's only been three days.

"Hey you," Nausika stops walking and looks over her shoulder at the blonde in blue sunglasses behind her. "Where is he?" Shizuo demands, hands fisted in his pockets with a sneer on his face.

"He? He who?" Nausika asks, flipping up her shades and turning around to meet him. _'Didn't I pour orange soda on that kid? No, grape. I drank an orange soda after.'_

"The flea, Izaya, where is he?" Shizuo clarifies in a rough tone.

"That shadey kid in the tacky coat? I don't know. I don't know the guy." She tells him in a bored tone, continuing to sip her juice causally.

"Don't give me that crap!" Shizuo yells, becoming with her attitude and how she was brushing him off. "You were with him the last two times, so where is he?!"

"Like I said, I don't know. He just came up to me the other day. What is he, your boyfriend or something*?" Nausika asks with an arched brow before both go up at the expression on the blonde man's face.

"What you say?!" Shizuo roars, reaching out and crushing a lamp post in his fist before uprooting it from the ground.

"Whoa…that escalated rather quickly." Nausika says with a curious expression before she smiles plainly. "Sorry, didn't mean to piss you off dude. Juice box?" She offers and holds out her bag while taking a sip of her own.

"Don't call me _dude_! And don't be so causal!" Shizuo demands angrily.

"So…no juice box? I already opened the fruit punch…" She says, shaking the bag at him a little. In any other circumstance, Shizuo is sure this just would have pissed him off. He doesn't want a damn juice box! But somehow he calms down but still has a scowl on his face. "You wanna put that down? You're makin' me nervous." Nausika tells him in a bored tone and Shizuo seems to realize he has the post in hand. He tosses it down the adjacent alley way before stuffing his hands in his pockets again.

Shizuo rubs the back of his head. He's a little embarrassed by his behavior and that he's wrong. He also realizes that it's probably not in his best interest to intimidate some woman. _'Dumbass…'_ "So you don't know where the flea is then?"

"Negative." Nausika replies plainly, dropping her arm when she realizes her offer of juice has not been accepted and her empty box in the trash before slipping her hand in her back pocket.

"Damnit!" Shizuo roars in anger, he had been almost hoping to pummel the rat to brighten up his day. He realizes that he's doing it again and reels in his anger before he releases it on this stranger again. "Tch! Well, word of advice since your new in town, stay away from him. He's nothing but trouble."

"Thanks…." Nausika droned with an arched brow. Who was this guy to tell her who to talk to and who to not? Not that she planned to talk to this Izaya guy, or anyone really, but still…

"Hey, Shizuo! Come on, the boss just called. We gotta get across town." Tom calls from down the street, waving to get the blonde's attention.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm comin'!" Shizuo calls back, waving him off. He turns back to Nausika and rubs the back of his head again. "Sorry I came up to you like that. He just makes me so angry!" The former bartender growls slightly with a deep scowl on his face.

"I never would have guessed." She says in the same tone, but with a smirk this time. Shizuo smiles a little, seeing that she isn't angry, which surprises him, and shrugs.

"Yeah, so sorry, uh…"

"Nausika." She offers carefully. Shizuo furrows his brows.

"Nausika? What kind of name is that?"

"Mine, what kind of a name is Shizuo?" She retorts. She was always a quick learner and could put two and two together from the name down the street. Tom apparently she gathered. Shizuo grimaces angrily.

"You shouldn't talk to people you don't know like that!" He scolds, but she doesn't seem to care.

"Practice what you preach." She tells him and he can tell that no she really doesn't care.

Shizuo growl and snaps around on his heels quickly to leave. He can feel himself getting annoyed and angry and very close to throwing something. Still, Shizuo looks back over his shoulder on his way back to Tom as that yellow jacket disappears into the crowd.

He has the oddest feeling. Almost like when he met Celty for the first time. He couldn't explain it really, how it was different or the same. He just knew something was different about her. He wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

"Who was that Shizuo?" Tom asks once the blonde is by his side again.

"Some girl." Shizuo says calmly nudging up his shades and missing Tom's curious look.

"Hm…she's cute. Think she's got cute friends." Tom asks elbowing the taller man slightly as the head down the street.

Shizuo flinches a little bit; irritated that Tom is teasing him. "Shut up Tom-san." Shizuo mutters and Tom chuckles at the blonde's irritation.

* * *

_Happy Double Chapter day! Any and all feedback and input is appreciated. Remember, number 10 gets a drabble fic! (Those log-in my only participate, I need to be able to communicate with you)._

_Thank you for reading!_

_*-Shizaya fans your welcome. And no, I am not against Shizaya (I actually like that too)_


	5. Potential friendship over

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

* * *

_"Hey, onee-san, you'll always protect me right?" Nauskia looks to her left at her sister. The question had taken her by surprise. Chidori hadn't said much for the whole trip and she hadn't said anything since they got back to the hotel. She had just taken a shower and then curled up in the window seat in their room to look out at the street traffic of London._

_"Of course, why?" Nausika says and throws her towel on the bed. Her sister has been acting odd lately, but that was a little out of left field._

_"Onee-san? Let's run away. I don't like it here anymore." Chidori mutters and Nausika furrows her brow._

_"We're leaving tomorrow for our next gig. You can wait 'til then. I'll see if boss man can get us a warmer climate this time. I don't think my hair can take anymore European Decembers."_

_"You know what I mean." Chidori says and looks at her seriously. Nausika is a little taken a back but recovers. Her sister has never asked to leave before. Not all in ten years. And there had certainly been reasons to._

_Nausika sighs and scratches her head before flopping down on her bed._

_"We can't Chidori. Where would we go anyways?"_

_"Anywhere. We could go back home to Japan." Chidori suggests but Nausika just scoffs loudly._

_"Tch, home, right." She hates that word. And Chidori knows it._

_"Well, how about Ikebukuro? You said you'd take me there." The younger Yumi sister says sweetly._

_"There you go again about that Ikebukuro crap again. What the hell is so special about there anyway? You've never been there. How do you even know you'll like it?"_

_"I just know. And I know something is amazing there for us! Especially you!" Chidori cries, back to her normal self for a second. But then it's gone and she gets a wistful look on her face and pulls her knees to her chest. "I can't leave without you and I can't leave you here with them. Please?" The brunette looks so fragile and sad when she begs her big sister finally._

_Nausika looks at her curiously before she looks down at her shoes. She may not be like her sister, but even she can tell a storm is coming in there group. A big one._

_So it doesn't take much prodding for the blonde to tell the brunette. "Okay, sure. Let's run away. We can even go to Ikebukuro if you want." Chidori beams happily and cheers. Nausika even smiles a little. Yes, it's a stupid plan. But what did they have to lose._

_The singing sound of a blade cutting through the air echoes through the sudden dark and a pair of gold eyes and wicked smile shine through. "Run, run little rabbit." And the song of the blade ends with a wet splash across the ground and it's over before it even begins._

Nausika shoots up in a cold sweat panting with her fists twisted in her new sheets. Well…that was interesting. Nausika rubs the heels of her hands into her eyes. When she brings them down she can see her hands are shaking a little. She balls them into fists angrily to the point that her nails are cutting into her palms.

She grabs her cell from the night stand and checks it. _'8:15. Damnit! Early morning is early.' _She tosses the phone. She doesn't care if she breaks it. It's nice, but a prepaid. They're a dime a dozen and it's not like she has important contacts on it or anything. See entertains the idea of going back to sleep. It's short lived as flashes of her dream, or rather nightmare, sprint across her mind's eye.

Nausika scratches her scalp angrily with a grumble before she gets up quickly and rummages through her drawers.

If she can't sleep she might as well start the day. She still needs to find a job. She's been here a week. And anything was a better alternative to breaking her shiny new things or climbing the walls.

* * *

"DAMNIT! GET BACK HERE!" Shizuo realizes, somewhere in his rage clouded mind, that chasing a guy and roaring at him like a mad man probably isn't the best way to get him to stop.

The guy in question had been dodging him and Tom for weeks now. It made sense really since he owed the boss a lot of money, but now that Shizuo had him in his sights he wasn't getting away.

The punk compulsive gambler stumbles horribly as he tries to round the corner before Shizuo hears a crash. Shizuo rounds it right after him and is surprised to see his target on the ground, on top of some girl, face deep in her cleavage. And Shizuo sees red.

"Grrrr! Get the hell off her you pervert!" Shizuo roars and picks the guy up by the back of his shirt and pants before hurling him 80 feet into the air like a comet. _'Awww damnit! Now he's got a head start! Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_ Shizuo's attention is brought back to reality as the hit and run victim on the ground stands while dusting herself off. "Hey, are you ok?" He asks calmly, rubbing the back of his neck. He doesn't like to lose his temper in front of girls. They frighten easier than men most of the time. But he knows he's pretty scary to almost anyone.

"Yeah, I think my boobs hurt his face more than his face hurt my boobs." She says and looks up. Teal eyes widen a little as she gets a mildly surprised look on her face in recognition. "Oh hey, awkward bartender guy."

Shizuo growls at that and his brows furrow. "Don't call me that! I have a name! It's Shizuo Heiwajima!"

"Don't get mad. I'm bad with names. I'm good with faces though." Nausika tells him casually taking her hood down and smoothing down her hair. Though she's pretty sure someone like Shizuo would be hard to forget.

"Hey, I remember you. You're that girl with that yellow jacket. Naomi right." He couldn't tell now that she was in a hoodie instead of her jacket at first. And with her hood up he couldn't see her odd hair. But he recognizes her now that he can see it and her face.

"It's Nausika." The blonde dead pans with a narrowed stare that makes Shizuo flinch for a second.

"Oh sorry…" He does realize it's pretty dumb to get mad at her for not remembering his name if he can't remember hers.

"Where'd that go guy anyway?" The question brings Shizuo back to her and she's looking in the direction the debtor went sailing.

"I don't know. I kinda just threw him." Shizuo confesses, stuffing his hands in his pockets. He doesn't feel in a rush anymore. The guy is either dead, knocked out, or has more than enough of a head start on him to get away. Shizuo can get to him later; right now he wants a smoke and a rest for a second.

"For no good reason?" Nausika asks tilting her head to the side a little curiously. With her eyes, she reminds him of a cat almost.

"It's my job." He tells her, taking out a cigarette from his pack and lighting it.

"Your job is to throw people?"

"No, my job is to get people who owe my boss money to pay him back."

"Oh, ok. As long as you had a good reason I guess." She says casually with her hands on her hips.

Shizuo give a small 'hn?' with a similar expression. _'A good reason? I just threw a guy half way across town and she's worried if I have a good reason or not?'_ He's confused. First the vending machines incident and now this. What was with this chick?

He wants to ask, but his mind gets side tracked. "Hey, what's that on your shirt?" He asks, pointing to the large stain he just seemed to notice across his chest.

Nausika looks down and then looks around before grumbling. "Aw man! Not my coffee! Is nothing sacred in this stupid town? I hate this place. I hate this place with the passion of a thousand suns, hate this place!" She yammers and kicks the paper cup that apparently once held coffee.

Shizuo is surprised, to say the least. He wonders if he looks like that when he's angry. Probably not. He's probably much worse when he's mad. And he has a tendency to kick more than paper cups. But still, he finds it odd that she's that worked up about it.

Her tantrum subsides quickly and her head snaps back towards him when she notices he's apparently staring. "What?!"

Shizuo snaps his back straight a little at the bark, startled to be turned on so quickly. "You want another coffee?" The blonde's anger seems to completely vanish at the offer and turns confused.

"What?"

"You seem pretty upset about it. Do you want another one?" Shizuo asks again calmly, hands still in his pocket and the slight slouch back in his shoulders.

Nausika blinks a little and seems to think about it for a second. "Are you buying?"

"Yeah, sure. It's kinda my fault the guy plowed into you anyway." Shizuo says and takes another drag of his cigarette before snuffing it out with his toe and walking down the street.

"I do like coffee and free things…." She mutters quietly, thinking out loud and following.

* * *

"Hello~! What can I get you two?"

The warm greeting from the barista behind the counter is not met as warmly by the blondes on the other side of the counter.

"Can I have a medium number 8, but instead of the two shoots can I get five? It won't fit in the medium cup so you have to put it in a large one." Nausika orders and the barista and Shizuo look at her curiously. It takes her a minute to realize their staring at her. "What? I'm aware I have a problem. Don't judge me."

"Umm…and for you sir?" The teen asks.

"I don't like coffee." Shizuo says, pulling out his wallet and handing her the appropriate bills.

"You don't like coffee?"

Shizuo looks down a little at his companion looking up at him with an arched brow. "Not really no, I never got a taste for the stuff." He tells her while accepting his change.

"Potential friendship over." Nausika replies blankly and heads to the other end of the counter.

Shizuo balks a little at the statement before he hisses through his teeth a little and follows her.

"You know, you could be a little more gracious to me. I did just buy you coffee."

"It's not like you bought me dinner or anything. It's just coffee. And I could have bought it myself if that's why you were doing it. Hey genius, eyes up here." Nausika tells him and simultaneously alerts the guy behind the counter to stop staring at her chest. Without her hoodie or her jacket on, they're kind of hard not to notice.

The remark makes Shizuo sneer. "Hey, I didn't do it because I'm trying to get into your pants or anything! I was just trying to be nice since it's my fault you lost yours in the first place!"

"Why? You didn't run me over." Nausika tells him and snaps her fingers at the male barista without looking at him and doing a hand motion to keep his eyes on her face. "I didn't mean it like that by the way. I'm sure if you were trying to get into my pants you'd be trying a lot harder. Unless that's your master plan. And I don't have to be anyway I don't feel like." She adds.

Shizuo 'hmphs' loudly and shows his hands back in his pockets. "Well, you could try to be nicer." He thinks there's an old saying about flies and honey and vinegar. Someone told him once when he was a kid to try and remind him to calm down, but it hadn't worked very well.

"Why the hell would I want to catch flies? They're filthy little scavengers." Nausika says and shivers visibly in disgust, taking Shizuo by surprise. He hadn't known he had said that out loud.

"It's an idiom for making friends. You won't make friends with a bad attitude like that." He tells her. And he would know. His behavior and attitude had alienated him from almost any and every one. Few people stayed and even less at this point tried.

"Oh. Who said I wanted those either?" She says plainly and takes her coffee from the barista, giving him a bland look as he still blatantly stares at her chest.

It doesn't seem to bother her. But Shizuo seems to be a different story. "Hey dumbass! How many times does she have to tell you?! Stop staring at her rack like a dog in heat!" He roars and swings up his arm to crush the counter angrily.

His fist takes a big chunk out of the bar and the loud noise sends the other customer cowering. Shizuo pants angrily. _'Shit! Now look what I did! Stupid! But damnit, guys like that just piss me off! Leave her the hell alone if she's not interested! People aren't objects for fuck sakes!'_

"Hey, can I take this?" Nausika's voice brings him back out of his head and the last bit of his rage. But he notices she's not talking to him. She's talking to the cowering staff behind the other end of the counter about a sugar dispenser on the shattered counter. She figures if they're about to get kicked out anyway she might as well get a free sugar dispenser since neither one of them can come back.

The cheerful girl from earlier, who doesn't look so cheerful anymore, pops up trembling with fear. "Su-sure, sure! Just take it, take anything you want! Just get that freak out of here!" She tells her, voice shaking too.

Shizuo flinches a little at the comment, even after all this time. But he doesn't want to cause any more trouble. He feel like he's done enough already. The quiet sound of a glass container and paper cup catches his attention in the stifling quiet coffee house. Nausika slips on her stained hoodie again and slips her hands in its pockets. "You know what; I don't think I'm in the mood for coffee anymore." She says blankly. She's still staring at the group in distain when she purposely juts out her elbow at the cup, knocking it down and sending its contents to the floor. "Oops." She adds still in the same tone. She nudges past Shizuo and heads out of the shop.

It takes Shizuo a minute to restart his brain. Like everyone else, he's surprised she stuck up for him and not hidden like the others. But still, he tries to leave with some manner of dignity and cool as he walks out never to return again.

He comes out next to Nausika who is looking back and forth down the street. "Which way is the shopping district?"

Shizuo blinks a few times then points down the left. The other blonde nods and does a quick turn on her heels in that direction. "Hey wait," Nausika looks over her shoulder curiously at the stoic body guard. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" Nausika asks, tilting her head to the side again.

"That," Shizuo says, jutting head head back towards the coffee house and adjusting his sunglasses in an effort to seem casual. Nausika's head untilts and she seems to look past him at the coffee house before giving a shrug.

"If I'm starting my life over, I might as well turn over a new leaf." She says cryptically, then smiles a little. The expression catches Shizuo a little by surprise and he guesses it shows because it switches to a smirk. "Besides, I think that is the adequate level of gracious for coffee." She adds while turning back around. "See ya, bartender guy." Nausika tells him with a wave.

Shizuo's surprise vanishes with a growl. "It's Shizuo!"

* * *

_Any and all feedback and input is appreciated. Remember, the contest is still up for number 10 reviewer to get a drabble fic! (Those log-in may only participate, I need to be able to communicate with you!)._

_Thank you for reading!_


	6. Tch! Destiny

_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! nor it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._

**_A/N: Congratulations to KittyoftheNight for winning a free drabble fic! Thank you to everyone else who reviewed and favorited in the last week! I'm so very happy that people are enjoying the story so far ^_^. In appreciation, I've decided to continue the contest, and the next mark is 20! _**

* * *

The sun was going down as Shizuo was sitting on the steps of West Gate Park with Celty.

The transporter was taking a break from her work and her never ending quest to find her head. He guest she must be pretty down after the painter had been a bust, so Shizuo had decided to join her for a bit in case she wanted to talk. She was nice enough to listen to him when he had problems, it was the least he could do for her. And besides, what else was he going to do now that he was off. Go home and stare at the ceiling? Watch TV until he passed out? No, the fresh air would do him some good, he thought. Even though he choked it up with his chain smoking.

Celty didn't say anything, but he still stayed. He enjoyed being with the headless rider. He didn't know if it was because she didn't have a head or if it was just who she was, but Celty didn't feel the need to fill the space and time with insistent chatter. Shizuo appreciated that.

It was hard for him to find people that were comfortable around him. And honestly, vice versa. Shizuo was well aware that he was lacking in social grace. His blunt personality and straightforwardness had always been off putting. Coupled with his temper and habit for destroying things, he was actually surprised he had any friends at all.

Shizuo leans back with his elbows on the steps as he knock ashes from his cigarette calmly. His mind wanders between this and that before his back straightens a little as he thinks he catches a glimpse of a yellow jacket though the fountain mist and small crowd. He can't be sure though. Maybe he imagined it…

_:What's wrong Shizuo?:_ Celty asks, seeing the slight change, getting Shizuo's attention again.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Thought I saw someone from the other day." He replies and brings his smoke to his lips.

The sound of taping tells him that she isn't finished talking. _:Who?:_

"Just some girl." He says and he can tell, somehow, that she's surprised.

_:A girl?:_ Celty types and Shizuo nods.

"Yeah, she said she showed up a few days ago." He says, knocking off more ashes as smoke wafts around his head.

_:You talked to her?:_ Celty asks, once again surprised. To her knowledge, Shizuo doesn't have any female friends aside from her really. And Celty doesn't really count herself sometimes since she's not really a woman, but a mystical being.

"Yeah, a few times." Shizuo tells her before taking a final drag of his smoke.

_:Why don't you go say hello.:_

"What? Why would I do that?" Shizuo asks, in gruff confusion before he flicks the butt of his cigarette off into the distance.

_:Because you keep looking at her: _Celty tells him plainly and Shizuo expression balks a little at the accusation. _:Besides, I have to be getting back home. Shinra is probably worried by now:_ She adds before standing.

"Yeah, ok. Tell Shinra I said hey." He says standing as well.

Celty gives a nod and then waves before she mounts her bike that speeds off in that odd combination of engine roar and horse neigh it does.

Shizuo slips his hands in his pockets and gives a bored smirk when she's gone. Alone, he debates heading home for the day. He needs a shower and some dinner before he hits the sack. He supposes that crashing out infron of his TV isn't so bad anymore, but even though he's thinking this his feet seem to have a different idea as they are taking him in the opposite direction they should be going to get to his apartment.

His feet finally stop in front of the blonde woman in her yellow jacket and he's almost as surprised as she seems to be when she looks up at him from staring at her shoes. "Hey," Shizuo says in way of a casual greeting, but nothing more. He doesn't know what to say. He honestly had thought about approaching her. It just kind of…happened.

Nausika gaze narrows slightly. "Are you following me?" Posture straightening against the bench back rather than slouched over her knees.

She doesn't sound accusatory or angry really. More cautious and suspicious of what he's doing, or at least that's what Shizuo think. Either way it annoys him.

"What?! No, I'm not following you." The ex-bartender replies in his defense.

"You seem to be an awful lot of places I tend to be." Nauskia replies. Now she sounds accusatory, Shizuo thinks, and he growls.

"I'm not following you damnit!" He shouts and rams his hands deeper into his pockets and hunches his shoulders inward in an angry stance as he starts to stalk off. _'It was a stupid idea to try and talk to her anyway!'_

"It's Shizuo right?" The man in question stops, only getting a few paces away, and looking over his shoulder curiously at the other blonde. "I'm bad with names. But I think its Shizuo right." She tells him smoothly.

"Yeah, it's Nausika right." Shizuo replies, straightening but still looking defensive even as he turns back to face her.

"Yeah," She says and a tense moment passes before she scratches at the back of her neck sheepishly. "Look…I'm…sorry. I get…paranoid around new people." She apologies, poorly. But Shizuo still smirks a little and walks back over to her.

"It's ok. Sorry I flipped on you." _'Again'_ He adds mentally.

"It's ok. I'm well aware I have that effect on people. I've been told I'm abrasive on a good day." The purple highlighted blonde says with a shrug.

"Who says?" Shizuo asks curiously. It's not that he doesn't agree, he can see that, but it's more curious as to who could get away with it. She seems like the type of person who doesn't take any guff from anyone and gives less of a damn about it for her to care.

"Lots of people, my sister mostly." Nausika replies casually.

"You have a sister?" Shizuo asks and Nausika gives him a look that says _'Didn't I just say that?' _which causes him to scowl in embarrassment a little and change the subject. "So what happened?" Nausika looks at him with that head tilt of hers that he thinks make her look like a cat. "You said that you were abrasive on a good day. That means you had a bad day right? What happened?" He clarifies and sits down on the other end of the bench, tired of standing and looking down at her.

He can see the slightest flinch at the minor invasion of her space. He thinks he can literally see her head ticking away at the thought of this. But then she gives up and relaxes back into her aloof calm. In the end, she doesn't seem to mind and Shizuo feels a little good about that. Most people would mind.

"I didn't say I was abrasive. I said other people think I'm abrasive. I think I'm wonderful."

"Has anyone ever told you you're weird and difficult?" He asks with a slight scowl.

"Yes," She replies easily, not seeming bothered by it, with a smirk. Then she shrugs. "Nothing happened. This place just stresses me out."

"The park?"

"Ikeburkuro." She says in that way that makes him feel like an idiot again.

"Oh, yeah, I can see that." He says with a slight shrug. "Why'd you come here then?"

"Because I made a promise and Chidori would never forgive me if I broke my promise to her." She tells him ruefully and the flash of sadness on her face is enough to stun Shizuo for a second. "She said this was our destiny."

"Tch! Destiny." Shizuo scoffs.

"She believed in it. I never said I did." Nausika corrected with another shrug. "I'm more of a product of our environment and choices kinda gal."

"I thought it was one or the other." Shizuo says blandly. He didn't pay so much attention in school, but he does think he remembers a lecture about nature versus nurture. Wasn't it you were the product of your environment or the product of decisions? Or some crazy psycho-babble like that?

Nausika rolls her eyes. "Whatever. The point is that I make my own destiny, whatever the hell that's supposed to be."

"Well, what do you think it's supposed to be?" He asks, looking out of the corner of his blue shades at her.

"I don't know. My only real goal in my life has not to become my mother. That and not dying." Nausika tells him in bland seriousness.

"Those are pretty low aspirations." He says with a slight smirk at the joke, which grows a little when she returns it. "If you hate it here so much, why stay? Why not go back to where you were from?"

"I didn't like it there either anymore." She says, the slight smile on her face gone and she looks away with a grim expression. Shizuo face falls. He may not be good with people, but he can tell when he's struck a nerve. A big one. And he's worried, for some reason, that he's upset her.

"How come you're out here alone?" He asks, trying to change the subject again quickly.

Nausika turns back toward him. "Well you're here now, so I'm not anymore."

"I mean, yeah, but that was an accident. Why aren't you with your sister or somebody?" He asks more specifically.

"Because I don't know anyone here and she's dead." The teal eyed blonde response seriously with a look that makes him feel both bad and like an idiot for prodding.

"Oh…I'm sorry I uh.." _'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_ Shizuo thinks as he stumbles over his words.

"It's fine." Nausika replies after a minute.

"Still, I'm sorry. I have a younger brother. I'd be upset if he was gone." Shizuo says in an effort of compassionate.

"I'm gonna go." Nausika says suddenly and stands.

"Oh, ok." Shizuo says and rubs the back of his neck, ashamed that he can't get the hurt expression off his face and out of his voice. He thinks it's stupid. He shouldn't feel bad when he's the one that brought the tense subject up. Of course she'd want to leave. _'Who wouldn't want to leave me?'_

"It has nothing to do with you. I just wanna go home now." The teal eyed blonde says, seeing through him at his utter dejection.

"Oh, ok." Shizuo says and he believes her. He's not sure why, most would think it was just a lie to make him feel better. But for some reason, he can tell that that's not something she does. That she would rather people be hurt by the truth than uplifted by a lie. "If you want I could walk you there. City isn't safe at night." He offers as he stands, rubbing the side of his nose. Though not sheepishly, he's not embarrassed or anything damnit.

Nausika arches a brow and looks at him funny. "Are you serious right now? I haven't had to be walked home since I was six." She tells him and the ex-bartender growls angrily at her.

"Fine! It was just an offer! See if I care if you get attacked by the Slasher or something!" He shouts and prepares storm off from her.

"My apartments this way." Shizuo stops and looks over his shoulder curiously in confusion. "I may not completely know my way around after a week, but I know my apartment is this way. You're going the wrong way." She clarifies, pointing over her shoulder at the direction he assumes she lives.

"Thought you didn't need to be walked home." He tells her, nudging up his sunglasses and trying to look cool after losing his temper. Again….

"I don't, but you seem pretty upset about it." Nausika say and runs her fingers through her bangs, the only part of her hair not in her up do. It's kind of in a bun today. Shizuo realizes she must like it up because even though this is only their fourth meeting he hasn't seen it down. "Stay here if you want then." She adds sharply.

Shizuo huffs and with his long legs is beside her again in a few strides. "You seem to get over your paranoia pretty fast." He tells her as they start walking.

"Well, nine times out of ten I'm a pretty good judge of character and spotter of bull shitters." Nausika tells him plainly, folding her arms behind her head. "And if you were going to abduct or kill me you probably would have done it by now. Besides, it wouldn't be beneficial for you to try."

Shizuo looks out of the corner of his shades and arches a brow at her. _'What the hell is that supposed to mean? I think I feel slightly threatened….Da fuck….'_

* * *

Conversation ends after that for the majority of the trip.

Shizuo can't decide whether the silence is a good or bad thing. On the one hand, it's not really an awkward silence and is rather comfortable and soothing. He'd probably sound like an idiot again if he has to talk he thinks. But on the other hand, the more he thinks about it, the more awkward and uncomfortable it gets, for him anyway.

He's torn in his head. He wants to say something, but can't. Well, he could. It's just that he can't think of anything. He's not good at talking to people, let alone girls. He's gruff and hard and temperamental and pushy. He's a thousand things no girl ever wanted to get within 18 feet of, so he never really got a chance to talk to them outside of 'Hey, where's your old man?' to dodger's significant others and Celty.

"Who's Celty?" The sudden question from his companion knocks Shizuo out of his thoughts and he looks at her curiously. "Who's Celty? You said girls don't talk to you other side of dodger's girlfriends and Celty. Who is she?" Nausika asks calmly.

"She's uh…she's just a friend." Shizuo stammers embarrassed that his mouth kept talking without him.

"Your girlfriend?" She asks, still calmly, and Shizuo balks a little at the question.

"No! She's more like a friend of a friend. Or more of a friend of a bad acquaintances that doesn't have the good sense to go away." He replies.

"Tacky coat kid?" She asks, with a raised brow.

"No! That flea is _not_ my friend!" Shizuo roars, but reels his rage back in as the flea has nothing to do with her and she doesn't deserve it. "His name is Shinra." He adds after a moment, calmly.

"Interesting name," Nausika says with a slight crinkle in her nose.

"He's an interesting guy." Shizuo confirms with a light smile at the ease that was when he stopped thinking about it.

"Well, this is it." Nausika announces when they reach her building. "Um…do you want a drink or something?" She asks, scoffing her heel a little as she waits for his answer.

"Are you inviting me in?" Shizuo asks, with a wolfish grin that surprises him.

"No, I'm going to give it to you on the landing." She says with that _'You're an idiot' _expression again. "And I'm not _'inviting you in'_. I may be inept in social norms for the most part, but I know its proper etiquette to offer someone a beverage when they walk you eight blocks to your place."

"That wasn't eight blocks." He tells her matter-a-factly.

"It's a figure of fucking speech." She snaps and Shizuo can't help himself when he smirks when he thinks she's getting a little annoyed.

"Nah, I uh…should get going." He says. His bravado is suddenly gone. "You're here now…and the Slasher didn't kill you so…great." Shizuo stutters and Nausika smirks at him. He can tell that there is something snarky on the tip of that tongue of hers, but she's trying very hard to suppress it. Before she loses control, or he loses his, Shizuo growls lightly at himself and snaps around on his heels to go back down the street.

Nausika snickers a little to herself. _'Poor kid,'_ she thinks sarcastically and heads up the stairs. She only makes it a few steps before behind her she hears, "Hey Nauskia!" She stops and looks down over her shoulder at the ex-bartender in blue shades.

"Yeah?" She asks curiously and turns around completely after he doesn't say anything for a moment. Finally, the blonde hiss through his teeth, looks away, and hands her a receipt with numbers on the back of it.

"It's dangerous here. You shouldn't be out alone." He mutters, and _not_ sheepishly because he's _not_ embarrassed and he's _not _blushing damnit!

Nausika's expression turns surprised but she takes it and looks at the note critically. "Umm…thanks." She also surprised at her loss of words. Normally, she would say something like _"You just keep your number in your pocket in case pretty girls walk by?"_ or _"aren't we presumptuous bartender-san."_ But for the life of her she can't find it in her heart or her head to do that to him. He looks almost like a middle schooler coming up to his first crush after recess. Inside she finds it sweet. And the gesture is too, but that gives her something else she can't quite put her finger on. _'He's…worried about me….? That's new…'_

Shizuo glances up from his serious examination of the rocks around her building hedges. He acts like he wants to say something, but just gaps like a fish for a minute before he just walks away.

Nausika watches him leave before she ascends the stairs again.

When she gets into her apartment and locks all the locks on her door, she leans heavily against the wood with slumped shoulders and she examines the paper in her hand. She isn't sure what's she's thinking at that moment as she looks at the black numbers, or the feeling that itches up her spine when she balls it up and throws it at her waste basket.

But, when she finds it a few days later on the carpet when she's cleaning, she does know that she thinks _'I should give him a call'_and that itching feeling is in her chest this time.

* * *

_Awww! Poor Shizu-chan! He's so bad with girls! As always all feedback and reviews are appreciated. They really help me! _

_Annnd next one to hit mark 20 gets their own drabble fic! __May the odds be ever in your favor!_

_Thanks for reading!_


	7. A Little Late for Coffee

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

_A/N: Some of the events may be a liiittle out of order, but for the most part I am trying for media and actual real time accuracy (or at least as accurate as an OC fic can get). The research for it takes some time, so please be patience with me for some chapters (and yes, I do do research for all my stories)._

* * *

The sun was setting on another day in the city of Ikebukuro when we find our favorite debt collector and his bodyguard out on the streets.

Tom and Shizuo were running through their list of clients for the day when they found this guy. It hadn't been hard to find the guy. He spent all his time at the bathhouses.

"They just fired me for nothing! And they kicked me out of my company housing too! Now I got no money, no food, no nothin'! And you think the government is gonna help out a guy like me? Ha-ha, I don't think so!"

_'Shut up…' _Shizuo thinks as the guy whines on and on to Tom about his woes and how why he can't pay them back. It's annoying.

"So you borrowed money to bang some bath house chick?" Tom asks, hoping a little that if he says it out loud the guy will realize how stupid he really is.

"It's love!" Apparently not. "She's not just some chick! Mint and I have true love!" Tom heaves a heavy sigh and Shizuo takes another drag of his smoke. He hopes the nicotine will stay off the annoyance he's feeling. He hasn't been the best 'team player' for the business lately. He's been tossing guys left and right this week. He can't figure out why. "I don't have her number! And I can only see her at work! But I mean it, what we have is real!"

And at that, Shizuo snaps like his cigarette between his fingers.

"You piss me off!" Shizuo growled as he encroaches on the sniveling man. "The only time this girl will see you is at the bathhouse and she hasn't even given you her phone number!" He can hear Tom trying to calm him down, but he isn't having it. People like this, that say they're in love so easily without regard for what the really means or how precious it is, piss him off to no end. "You're telling me!" Suddenly a street sign is in his hand. "You really think that's true love!" And then just as suddenly the guy is falling into a brick wall down the street.

Shizuo seethes angrily as he watches the rubble smolder around the wall the shmuck went sailing through. _'Dumb stupid bastard! Using money he didn't even earn to woo some tramp who's only using his love for a quick hand out and calls it **love**! Makes me sick! Filthy, ungrateful, lowlife-'_ His train to thought is interrupted when his phone has the unfortunate foresight to beep.

The blonde growls and pulls the yellow device out of his pocket, fully intent on hurling it to the ground so it can smash into a million pieces, but Tom stops him. "Shizuo! Hey man, don't break your phone! What if Kasuka needs to get to you?!" Tom knows very well that using the little brother card is a low blow, and one that he can't use again for several weeks, but he has to stop Shizuo somehow. Tom can't figure out why he's been so mad lately. And when he asks, Shizuo doesn't know either. So at this point he's up for trying anything to keep 'the monster of Ikebukuro' at bay.

The bodyguard growls, but simmers, and flips one the phone to look at the text message he just received.

His brows furrow at the unknown number in his phone. It's a simple message, only four words, staring back at his asking, _:Hey, is this Shizuo?:_

The ex-bartender growls slightly and wonders who the hell is texting him if they aren't even sure it's him. _:Yeah. Who the hell is this?:_ He replies, hoping it sounds as miffed as he feels.

The phone beeps again and this time it's only one word staring back at him.

_:Nausika:_

Shizuo rage immediately disappears as he stares wide eyed at the screen. He hadn't heard from or seen her in a few days. Not that he was looking for her or anything, of course. But he had been worried that maybe she had been hurt by the Slasher, or taken by those human traffickers everyone was talking about, or taken his advice and left town. But, you know, because he was a nice guy and everything. Not because it was particularly her or anything.

Shizuo hisses through his teeth quickly before he texts back. _:Nausika who?:_ He knows it's kind of a jerk move to pretend like he doesn't know who she is, but he is honestly a little miffed that it's taken her almost a week to get back to him. You know, 'cause he was worried. More concerned really. Maybe genuinely interested in her wellbeing was a better phrase to use.

The phone beeps again and he can't help himself but smirk a little at the words. _:Yumi. But Nausika isn't a common name. Don't be coy. It's only attractive when I do it.:_

_:Sorry:_ He apologizes before texting,_ :What's up?:_ He wants to give it a minute to seem nonchalant about it. Like he's not really interested in what she wants but is obligated to ask. Was that the right word? No. Damnit! He really isn't good at this smooth stuff.

_:Nothing. I just thought I would give you a call:_ She replies.

_:This is a text:_ He sends back. He knows he's being a smartass with that one, but the thought of her getting irritated by that makes him smirk again a little wider.

Then suddenly it's gone as his phone starts ringing and pulsing in his hand. He's cautious when he answers it, and even forgets to say hello.

"Better smart ass." Nausika asks and he can almost hear the grin on her face when she talks to him.

"You didn't have to actually call. Texting was fine." Shizuo replies. Actually, texting was _way_ better. It gave him time to think and not sound like an idiot.

"You sound irritated." She states suddenly. And Shizuo realizes she has a habit of doing that, stating facts that didn't necessarily need to be stated when she discovered them into a conversation.

"I'm at work." He answers, trying not to sound as gruff as he knows he probably does. It's been a long week, and it's only Wednesday.

"Ah, never mind then. Sorry I bothered you."

"Wait what?!" Shizuo shouts, maybe a little too loudly judging by the stares, but he wants to make sure she heard and didn't hang up.

"I uh… nothing," She says and Shizuo thinks he sighs a little when he realizes she didn't hang up. "it's…never mind…this was a bad idea…"

"Spit it out! You obviously called for something, so what is it? What do you want?" Shizuo snaps, which he knows is a bad idea. But stammering is one of his biggest pet pevees. And somehow when she does it it's even more annoying. It's not her.

"Well, for starters, you could stop yelling into the phone. It's a cell, not a tine can." Nausika replies in a snarky tone that Shizuo is use to and, though completely not its or his intentions, gets him to smile. "And my coffee markers broken." She adds suddenly.

"So, what does that have to do with me?" Shizuo asks in slight irritation. What did she want him to do about it? Fix it? Buy her a new one? Try to fix it, break it, then buy her a new one?

"I want coffee but you said I shouldn't be out alone at night." She replies like that's explaining something.

"It's a little late for coffee don't 'ca think." He replies and scratches the back of his head. It's getting pretty late and he's pretty sure he's heard or read somewhere that caffeine after a certain time was bad for you.

Suddenly Shizuo is startled when he hears laughter coming from the other end of the phone. "Oh man, Shizuo, dude, when a woman asks you to go get coffee with her at 8 o'clock at night, she doesn't want coffee." Nausika explains and he knows, he just knows, that that _'you're an idiot'_ look is on her face.

The blonde's face heats up a little and he scratches the side of his nose. "Oh…I uh…yeah, sure. I uh…I should be finished up with Tom-san here soon." He knows he probably sounds like an idiot stammering like that, but she caught him off guard. Yeah, that was it. She caught him off guard. He wasn't embarrassed or nervous or anything.

"Like nine soon, or ten soon?" She asks.

"I'm not sure." He answers, 'cause it's the truth. They only have a few more on their list and they could take an hour or they could take three hours depending on the guys.

"Well…give me a call when you know then ok. Or if you can't make it." She tells him and Shizuo thinks he hears a bit of disappointment in the last bit. Like she's giving him an way out if he changes his mind.

"Yeah, sure. I will." He promises and he's about to say goodbye when he hears the click of his phone.

"Ok, so the bathhouse isn't gonna press charges for you huckin' that guy, so that's good. Hey, who were you on the phone with?" Tom says, appearing again at his bodyguard's side.

"Nausika Yumi." The blonde replies stoically.

"Nausika Yumi? I've never met anyone by that name. Sounds like a girl's name though. You got a hot date Shizuo?" Tom asks, teasing the taller man slightly who responded by hunching his shoulders as he shoves his hands into his pockets and mutter something about not having a date down the street.

* * *

_Yes, short chapter is short, but **next** chapter will be much longer a suuuppeer special! So keep your eyes peeled!_

_As always I would **adore** any and all feedback you guys have more me. Input is great! And I love making new internet friends while I'm writing. ^_^ Also, r__emember, the contest is still up for number **20** reviewer to get a drabble fic! (Those log-in may only participate, I need to be able to communicate with you!). Free internet cookies to all regular reviewers!_

_Thank you for reading!_


	8. The General Direction of Right

_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! nor it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._

* * *

The bright neon of Otome road is lit up in full swing by the time Shizuo is making his way to get Nausika. He had called her when he had finally gotten off work and told her they could go to the strip if she still wanted coffee. But you know more smooth and cool like. He didn't stammer or anything like a teenager.

The tall blonde's feet seemed to be taking him in the direction he was seeking more than his head. His head was having second thoughts. _'This is a bad idea'_ it told him _'turn back now before you do something **really** stupid like peg her with a trash can, or huck a street sign near her, or insult her, or get her to hate you, or…'_ His head was like a pessimistic broken record of Murphy's Law. Just over and over again it told him all the things that could go wrong, that had gone wrong when he had tried this before, but still his feet kept walking.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Shizuo catches a flash of yellow leather with black stripes down the arms. The person's back is toward her as the sit perched on an iron railing, but not many people wear yellow jackets in this city. He's sure it's her.

"What are you doing out here?" Shizuo asks when he approaches and Nausika's head snaps over her shoulder. Her eyes are narrowed, as if to say _'how the hell are you?'_ before they widen a little in recognition after a second.

"You're not in your bartender get up." She says casually, taking in his grey jeans, white shirt, and black jacket* as she swings her legs around to sit on the other side of the rail he's standing on. Shizuo turned away, feeling his face heat as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I have other clothes! I just don't wear them that often!" He snaps in embarrassment. That was actually true, but most of the time he was out he was either working or going to or leaving from work when most people saw him. When he wasn't at work he spent his time at home, alone. "Besides, I figured you'd be pissed if I showed up covered in blood." He adds, adjusting his normal shades now to keep not looking at her.

That was also true, but covered was a strong word. The last client of the day had pissed Shizuo off. And he had seen red so he had punched him. To be fair, it hadn't been the guy so much as a collection of guys and one reported that brought up Kasuka to him, but still he shouldn't have tried to run. The guys stupid face had bled all over his sleeve and he figured she'd be intimidated if he showed up with blood on him and sweat from chasing the flea briefly; briefly because said flea disappeared into the city before Shizuo could catch him. He knew he was already pretty intimidating to begin with.

And, to also be fair, he wanted to change because his 'work clothes' gave him away from a mile away. He had seen how people who recognized him looked at them the other time they had been together. Like they were wondering what a nice girl like her was doing with a monster like him. So he had changed in to normal clothes. Because, if he was being honest with himself, he wanted to continue with this fantasy that she liked him and that someone maybe wanted to be around him and that he was normal for a few minutes.

"I wouldn't be pissed. It'd be a little weird. You told me we were going here by the way." Nausika says, bringing him back to the present.

"Yeah, but I was going to come get you. The point is that you shouldn't be out here _alone_." He says, trying to sound serious as he attempted to reprimand her.

It didn't seem to work. She just chuckled quietly with a soft smile and looked at him casually. "Well, you're here now and no big bad scaries came and took me away. Plus I'm not as useless as I seem. Here," She says and hands him a paper cup that had been by her feet.

"What's this?" Shizuo asks, sneering a little at the assumption that it's coffee.

"Hot chocolate." She says and his shoulders untense in relief. He'd really hate to have to drink it if it was coffee. "Well, it's probably not hot anymore. It's the only other option the store had aside from coffee or tea. And you didn't seem like the kind of guy that drinks tea." She tells him, in what he guesses is her level of cheery.

"I like tea just fine." He replies blankly and takes a sip. It's more warm chocolate now, but he actually likes it better this way. Nausika smirks a little and stands from her perch.

"I'll make a note of that."

Shizuo looks up over the brim of his cup at her and his eyes widen a fraction as he notices something. "The purples gone." He comments out of the blue and Nausika balked a little bit before running her fingers through her hair.

"Oh! Yeah, I dyed them out the other day. It's a little hard to get work with purple streaks in your hair. I don't think my hair has been solid blonde since I was a kid." She says with a slightly awkward chuckle near the end.

"It looks nice." He says with a small smile. It does really. He had nothing against the purple. But with it that solid, natural color and down at her shoulders for the first time like that she looks really…nice.

His smile turns to a smirk when he thinks he sees the other blonde blush momentarily, but may have been a trick from the lights and his eyes. "Sooo…this is as far as my master plan got…" She draws casually, biting her bottom lip a little while her hands disappear into her jacket pockets.

"I could walk you home since you already got your coffee. There's usually some street performers on the way if you want to see them." Shizuo suggests, at a loss for what he's doing. He's not used to hanging out with new people or whatever this is. He's shooting in the dark on this one.

"Yeah, sure, ok." Nausika says with a slight smile and Shizuo smiles a little too when he thinks he did some right. Maybe not perfect, but in the general direction of right.

* * *

The walk is quite but comfortable. Shizuo doesn't know what to say or do so he slowly sips his chocolate, using it as a crutch to not have to start conversation. Nausika doesn't seem to mind though. She just quietly observes the different acts and surroundings with a critical, curious eye and continues not talking.

Finally, when Shizuo has to throw away his cup because he can't pretend to drink from it anymore and the blaring neon of the inner city fades in the background down the quite streets, Nausika starts speaking.

"Are you always this stoic or do you just not want to talk to me?" She asks having spun on her heels to walk backwards and face him.

"No, it's not that. I just don't know what to say. You should watch where you're going." He tells her, his typical hunch back in his shoulders and hands in his pockets.

"How come you do that?" She asks, not heading his warning as she continues to walk backwards in front of him.

"Do what?"

"Hunch your shoulders in like that. It's bad for your back." She explains.

"It hasn't hurt me yet. You should watch where you're going." He tells her again.

"Your body language suggests that you want to be left alone or you're hiding into yourself. Is my presence bothering you? Is that why?"

"No, this is just how I've always stood. Seriously, you should watch where you're going." Shizuo says again. He can feel himself getting annoyed. She's not listening. And she's asking a lot of questions all of the sudden.

"So have you always been self-conscious about your height or something? I used to do that when I was a kid cause I was taller than everyone."

"I'm not self-conscious about my height! I'm self-conscious about throwing vending machines when I get angry! Will you stop doing that?!" He shouts finally and Nausika stops walking to look at him with an arched brow.

"Wow, you really are self-conscious about that aren't you?" She says and Shizuo hisses through his teeth in annoyance, more annoyed that he screwed up than at her really. She was just trying to be friendly, he thinks, and he was just being a jerk to her snapping at every little thing.

"I'm sorry. It's just that…I don't know. I don't like it when people ask me a lot of questions about me. It gets on my nerves." He says sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck.

"How am I supposed to get to know you if I can't ask you any questions? I'm not good at this, but I'm pretty sure that's how you start." Nasuika questions. Her head tilting in that curious cat way she does and Shizuo freezes momentarily.

She really was trying to get to know him, he thinks. She really was trying to make an effort. Maybe she wasn't good at this like she said, but at least she was trying.

Shizuo all of the sudden feels guilty for his behavior. A pretty girl tries to be nice to him and what does he do? Act like the brut everyone says he is and tries to push her away. _'I'm such an idiot.'_ He thinks ruefully but also makes a promise to try and be better if she's set on trying to be his friend. She hasn't run away yet. Maybe he has a shot.

"Hey you two, hands up!" The quiet moment between the couple is shattered when a punk in a beat up sweat suit set come from the shadows abruptly. A gun pointed at the couple.

Nausika raises her hands half-heartedly with a placid look on her face. Shizuo doesn't move. One of the drawbacks of not wearing his work clothes was that he wasn't easily recognized. This kid had no idea what was coming to him.

"You too buddy! And get into the alley!" He demands, gun still drawn on them. Shizuo doesn't raise his hands but the blondes do slowly enter the alley way. He figures it would be better to knock the guys face in in the alley where there is less chance of witnesses than on the street. "Give me your wallets now!" The thug orders once they're in.

Shizuo growls ominously, about to knock the guy into next week, but stops when Nausika steps close to him and reaches into his pocket past his hand for his wallet. She reaches into her back pocket for hers, the other still raised half-heartedly, and hands them to him

"Here you go." The thug snatches them quickly and Nausika hand goes back to match the other. "But if I might, I have one small critique." She says and cautiously, with her hands still raised as steps closer to him and around the gun to flip a small switch near the back. "If you're gonna mug someone, you might want to take the safety off first." She tells him and returns to her previous position in front of the gun with her hands raised. "Ok, now I'm sufficiently terrified."

Everyone else in the alley is stunned with the casualness the blonde is taking to the situation. Now, thanks to her no less, she really is in danger. And she doesn't seem to care. Shizuo thinks briefly that he should step in to fix the situation before something serious happens.

The thug, put off by how his plan was taken such a turn, looks like about to say something. But whatever it was is cut off the when a hand snapped out quickly to take hold of his hand and the gun while a boot smashed across his face. The move is so fast that it only takes a second for the punk to go from standing to slowly slides down the adjacent brick in a twitching heap.

"Damn, I didn't mean to kick you that hard man. My bad." Nausika apologies as she approaches smoothly. "But you look like the kind of guy that needs a swift kick in the ass to get it. Or rather your head." She kicks him a little bit with her foot at make sure he's still breathing and, satisfied with the gurgled noise he response with, she bends down to pick up her and Shizuo wallet and the gun. "You shouldn't play with these by the way. Someone could get hurt."

She turns and tosses Shizuo his wallet in passing. "Quit staring, it's rude." She tells him, seeming obvious to the stunned expression his face.

It takes him a minute to realize what is happening and another to jog up to the other blonde that had left him in the alley. "What the hell was that?!" Shizuo asks in shock when he catches up to her.

"What was what?" Nausika asked, but seems more interested in dismantling the gun in her hands and throwing pieces of it in trash cans and other alleys down the street.

"That?! You know what that! And what the hell are you doing?!" He asks exasperatedly.

"I don't want this damn thing. Guns breed problem. But if I left it with him, he'd use it again. If I throw away the whole thing, someone else will use it. If someone wants to dumpster dive and play gun jigsaw, more power to 'em." She tells him and shoves her hands in her pockets when the last piece is thrown down another street.

"How did you even do that?!" Shizuo shouts, his normal response to confusion and uncertainty.

"My father taught me about guns. He owned a store." She replies without hesitation.

"And that guy, what about that?!"

"I took self-defense. I grew up in a rough neighborhood." She tells him, but he feels like these answers are recited or rehearsed for the occasion. He growls.

"That's a load of crap!" He shouts and she shrugs.

"Believe what you want, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it." She tells him, walking more briskly. And that causal attitude and blank expression sends him over the edge.

He doesn't want her walking away from him like that. Like he's nothing. Or that he doesn't deserve the truth.

"Damnit wait!" Shizuo's hand snaps and grabs her arm. It takes him a moment to realize it's a bad idea when he's angry. But the loud crack that follows when her arm goes taunt alerts him of his mistake and it's too late for him to take it back no matter how quickly he drops her arm and starts to apologies. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"

The taller blonde's hands are up in a defenseless, surrendering manner when they fly away from her. His anger immediately gone and replaced with that heavy brick of remorse he always feels when he hurts people who don't deserve it.

Nausika seems startled for a moment, but returns to her normal expression quickly. "It's alright. I think my jacket is ok." She tells him, her arm cradle to her breast as she tries to inspect her jacket sleeve with a look Shizuo thinks is far too placid for someone who just got their arm broken.

His guilt wrenched concern is washed away and suddenly he's pissed again.

"Fuck your damn coat! I just broke your arm!" He yells at her. Teal eyes blink up at him curiously and then lower with a shrug.

"No, it's ok. I'm fine. I'm a fast healer, don't worry about it." Nausika tells him, still calm, like it just explains everything.

"Grrr! I don't care how fast of a healer you are! We need to get you to a doctor, now!" The body guard tells her while grabbing her other arm, quick but very carefully, to pull her down the street.

"No!" She snaps but quickly reels whatever that was in and schools her features. "That's ok. I don't want to go to a doctor. Can I just go home now?" The other blonde drops her supposedly injured arm, gives it a shake, but doesn't try to pull free her hand from Shizuo.

Shizuo growls again. "God damnit! That wasn't a question!" He roars and tugs her a little to get her running down the street behind him.

* * *

"Are you sure you heard it break, Shizuo? It looks fine to me." The young doctor, Shinra, asks the stoic blonde in the corner of his examine room. He had taken her to him on instinct really. He wonders if subconsciously he did it because he doesn't want to have to explain to a legitimate doctor how her arm got broken. The looks and the stares would be almost as bad at the threat of going to jail for the night for him.

Shinra doesn't seem to mind. He's a friendly and jovial to her as he is anyone and polite as ever. Celty even made her presence known, but wore her helmet to not scare the girl with her headless figure. Unlike the doctor though, Shizuo suspects she more interested in her than her injuries.

"Trust me. I know what broken bones sound like." The blonde bodyguard tells him, hands stuffed in his pockets as he angrily stalks in the corner. He angry at himself really. He hurt her and she hadn't done a damn thing to him. She had actually been kind of nice. And he had been a monster.

"See! Doc says I'm fine. Can I just go home now?" Nausika asks exasperatedly while her foot taps. She seems impatient to be there, anxious almost. The taping bothers Shizuo, but he's more interested in what has her so worked up. _'Maybe she's scared of doctors?'_

Behind the seated blonde, a black clad woman in a yellow cat helmet types quickly. _: Maybe you thought you heard it, but it was a mistake:_

Shizuo growls after reading the message and turns on Celty. "It wasn't a mistake! I know what I heard damnit!"

After yelling, he seethes inwardly as he tries to reel in his rage. Why didn't they believe him?! He had broken every bone in his body a thousand times. He knew what that sound sounded like. But then he calmed down for a minute, stating his angry dread. Maybe, just maybe, it _was_ a mistake. Maybe he only _thought_ he broke her arm and really he hadn't. Maybe he hadn't been a monster and hurt her.

"Hey wait a second." Shinra's voice brings him back to reality and his dread sets back in. He _had _been a monster. He _had_ hurt her. "I could have sworn I saw a bone chip from your radius and ulna. Where the heck did they go?" The young doctor asks quizzically as he scratches his head as he looks at the x-ray.

"I guess you were mistaken. Can I please just go now?" The blonde female asks, already standing from her chair and getting ready to bolt for the door.

"Hang on! I haven't finished my examination!" Shinra cries after her but she doesn't stop as she's heading for the door.

But Shizuo is right behind her. "Hang on, just let Shinra check a few more things." He tells her calmly, very gently grasping her by the elbow when she reaches for her jacket.

"No! No more tests, no more examines! I just want to go home!" The other blonde yells at him, really yells at him. It's the first time he's heard her do that, _seriously _do that, since they met. It puts him in a momentary shock. Not because she yelled at him and looks angry, but because she yelled at him and looks _scared_ and angry. He doesn't get why. _'Maybe it's me?'_

"I'll take you home in a minute. Just calm down and let Shinra finish." Shizuo insists and keeps a firm, but cautious, hand on her elbow so she can't pull away despite her struggling.

"I said no!" Nausika cries and swings around with a punch aimed at his face. It hits and Shizuo is momentarily stunned. It hurt. Not a lot but enough. Hits usually don't hurt him at all. The shock of it makes him forget to hold her arm and the blonde stumbles back.

For Shizuo, it's like everything suddenly happens in slow motion.

Nausika loses her footing. She can't reclaim it when she misses the small step from the doorway. She's falling. Then the loud awful sound when her body crushes into the glass table behind her. The red stain bleeding into the carpet. She's bleeding. Oh God she's bleeding!

"Nausika!" Shizuo quickly falls to his knees, not caring about the broken glass digging into them, as he tries to cradle her up from the former tables frame and glass. He thinks that there is more stuck in her than on the floor. He thinks she's trying to say something, maybe scream, but only chokes of air come out from her gashed throat and impaled back. There's blood everywhere. It's all over his hands and his shirt and the floor. He thinks that it's too much blood for one person to carry. Or rather for one person to lose.

"Shizuo! What-" Shinra cuts himself off as soon as he and Celty get to the entrance way and see the scene.

Shizuo's head snaps around wildly and his eyes look just as crazy with worry and fear as he yells at him "Get over here and help her Shinra!"

The young doctor quickly snaps out of his shock and sprints back into his medical room to get supplies. Celty looks after him, but then focuses again on Shizuo and dashes over to him. She tries to dislodge the crazed man from the girl, but with his strength it's impossible. So the headless fairie rears back and smacks him, hoping it will bring him back to reality.

Thankfully it does. Shizuo blinks and refocuses on the dullahan who types furiously on her phone before showing him the message. _:Shizuo, you need to put her down and help me to stop the bleeding!:_

The blonde blinks slowly but puts the gasping, injured blonde down carefully before Celty takes his hand and pulls him down another hall. She flings open a linen closet and hands him several towels to wrap her wounds in so Shinra can get to her.

Shizuo's in shock. He just keeps thinking over and over again _'I killed her. I killed her. I finally killed someone and it was her.'_ Then Celty pulls him back down the hall. He's on autopilot and feels utterly useless and ashamed.

When they return to the end of the hallway Celty and Shizuo stand in shock much like Shinra on the other side of the room. Shizuo hadn't really thought about what he would see when he came back into the room. Nausika still bleed to death on the floor from the glass, Shinra patching her up, her already dead.

He's not really sure.

But he is sure that of all the things he could think of none of them had been Nausika sitting on the floor, in the pile of what was once a glass table, looking like the last ten minutes had never happened.

Nausika looks up almost sheepishly at them before shrugging slightly. "I told you not to worry."

* * *

_Annnnddd now I have to be mean and take a week off. Hopefully my vacation will refresh my muse juice and I can hit the ground running. :3_

_Again I would love, love, love any and all feedback (especially now). I want to know how you feel about the characters and the story too (do they feel OOC or Mary Sueish). I really love all the reviews so far. Thanks to ShikaTachidoriKitsuneHebiTak a, KittyoftheNight, ChRiStMaS 310, and guests for their reviews and all those that favorite/followed the story so far. I'm glad people are enjoying it so much so far :). Contest is still live by the way!_

_*-So, if you haven't seen casual/slightly hipster Shizuo, recommend that you do. But be warned: your life will be ruined (or significantly enhanced depending on how you look at it). The need to find more of them will consume you though. __I used this one as inspiration (that I don't own): www . zero chan full / 172901 ._


	9. Fortune Cookie Virtues

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

_A/N: So thanks to hurricane season, my vacation was cut short :/. But the good news for you guys I guess is that I had a chance to finish the new chapter and put it up! Again, this story is crossed between the anime, light-novels, and manga. Enjoy!_

* * *

"Ahhh! Incredible! You'd almost think nothing happened to you, except for all the blood on the floor!" Shinra cries, beaming like a maniac as he kneels next to the blonde woman on the floor.

"I'm sorry. I'll pay to replace it." Nausika says sheepishly, scratching the nap of her neck.

"No, no! It's fine! Though do you think you'd let me examine you instead? You're truly fascinating and I wonder if-gah!" Shinra's rambling is cut off by a swift kick into the head by Celty.

The black clad woman seems to look at him with something akin to disappointment before she types _:Are you really ok?:_

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nausika says calmly. Much more calmly than someone in this situation should be Shizuo thinks. She should be dead, deader than dead. But she's fine, better than fine.

Celty types again quickly. _:Not to be a bother, but…how?:_

"Your guess is as good as mine." Nausika dead pans with a shrug and picks up one of the longer pieces of glass, the tip of it covered in blood, and examines in briefly. She figures showing them can't hurt anything now. They've practically already seen. And…she's among…friends…of sorts. Or at least similar stock. She hasn't known them more than an hour, Shizuo only a few days, but she feel comfortable with this choice. And if the cat was out of the bag anyway….

The move of the glass cutting across her face is almost like that of a knife. Everyone flinches in response, but not her. There's barely a twinge of pain on her face as the blood slides down her cheek from the new cut under her eye. Shizuo's about to freak, but just the new wound appears its stitches itself closed and her cheek is whole again and as pretty as ever, like it had never happened. The only hint is the blood on her face before she wipes it away.

"Oh wow! It's almost like Celty!" Shinra crows happily and that seems to put Nausika off more than anything.

_: It's not exactly the same Shinra. And I'm not human like this girl:_ Celty types. Nausika arches a brow at her and, in an effort to be fair, the dullahan removes her helmet. There's a brief moment of awe or horror stricken surprise that everyone in their circle seems to get the first time. But she recovers quickly and even smiles just the tiniest curiously. And if Celty had a face, she would like to think she would have returned it.

"Hmmmm…that is true. But it's still so fasinating!" Shirna exclaims, bringing all attention back to him. "Maybe your ability is like Shizuo's yeah?! I think that his brain is wired wrong so it doesn't tell his body to tone down his strength and over time it's become super human. Maybe that's where your ability comes from?! All humans have the innate ability to heal and adapt to injury. Maybe your brain is wired wrong and-"I'm not wired wrong!" Shinra and everyone else seems surprised by the sudden furious outburst from the normally calm blonde, but her anger is quickly stated and replaced with an expression similar to defeat.

"I'm not…" She mutters quietly and then she's up quickly and heading for the door.

"Hey…hang on! You should still let me check you out! You could have internal damage not repaired or something!" Shinra cries after her, but the only response is the slamming door as she grabs her jacket and boots and leaves. Celty kicks him again when they're alone. "Ow! What did I do?"

_:You're horribly inept with dealing with people! I'm not even human and I can even tell you hurt her feelings. You pretty much called her a mistake and acted like she was a science project to review:_ The black clad female's pad reads. Irritated smoke fluttering out from her neck.

Shinra's face falls and he looks guilty. "Oh…I'm sorry…that wasn't my intention! Honest! I just get really excited when I see new things! You know that!" The young doctor blurts out quickly.

Celty seems to sigh a bit before typing. _:We know that, but she doesn't. You should apologize.:_ Celty tells him and types something again_ :It's obvious now that she wanted to keep it a secret. I'm sure it's really hard for her now that it's out. You humans have a hard time dealing with accepting the differences between yourselves and others.:_

Shizuo reads the message on Celty's pad carefully. Then he pulls out his blue sunglasses and slips them on his face carefully before standing with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey, Shizuo, where are you going?" Shinra asks curiously.

"I'll call you guys later. I gotta go deal with something." He says as way of departing as he heads out the door.

* * *

Shizuo halfway expects to have to search all of Ikebukuro to find Nausika again. She left in a whirl wind and he knows she has to be fast on her own. He sort of just realized she had kept up with him when he had been running at full speed to Shinra's. She could be anywhere by now.

So it surprises him when she is not across town or even a block away sitting on a bench looking like she's waiting for a bus.

"What are you doing?" He asks her and teal eyes pop up from looking at her hands in her lap to him.

"Picking daisies. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" She snaps back and her tone makes him growl in an angry sneer.

"Hey, I'm trying to be nice to you! Don't be a smart ass when you run off like that!" He barks back.

"If you had let me go the first time, I wouldn't be in this mess!" Nausika snaps back.

"What?! So this is my fault now!" Shizuo yells.

"Yes! If you had just let me be or let me leave when I wanted to this wouldn't have happened and I wouldn't have to sit here!" Nausika accuses.

"Well, excuse me for given a damn about you getting hurt! And how is it _my_ fault you have to sit here?! If you want to leave, then fucking go!"

"I can't! I'm out of energy!"

"What kind of crap is that nonsense!?" Shizuo shouts back and Nausika growls angrily before snapping her head the other away to seethe quietly before deflating.

Apparently the screaming match was over.

"My ability doesn't come cheap. It puts my body through a lot of stress actually. Extensive healing like what I just did requires a lot of energy to perform. Let alone at that speed. So until I can get some food in me or some sleep I have to save what I have left otherwise I'll pass out or worse, undo what I just did." She explains in what he thinks is her attempt to seem calm, but failing miserably.

Shizuo glares a little more at her before he sighs. He grabs her hand as he walks past her and hauls her to her feet and down the road. "Hey wait! Stop where are you taking me now!?" Nausika demands, wrenching her hand free, and he realizes she must get cranky when she's weak.

"Quit whining! You said you need to eat right." He shouts back over his shoulder and keeps walking.

Nausika blinks a few times before her face breaks out into a cross between a pout and a scowl. "I'm not whining…" She mutters but follows the taller blonde to where ever he's going.

* * *

It doesn't take long for Shizuo to get where he's going with Nausika in tow. He walks slower than normal to get there though. If Nausika is right, and she is low on energy, he wants to make sure that the walk doesn't kill her after she spent all that energy to fix herself up. He debated possibly carrying her if it was that serious, but snuffs the idea. He'd look stupid carrying a woman more than half his size like a toddler and she would probably pitch a fit about it. She seemed like the type.

"Shizuo! Long time no seeing!" A large black man in a white and Carolina blue accented sushi get-up greets him.

"Hey Simon, you got a table for two?" Shizuo asks, hands in his pockets and a casual lean in his stance when they reach him.

"Of course, of course, always room for friends at Russia Sushi! And his pretty lady friend! You on date Shizuo? I get you table close to back." Simon asks with a wide smile on his face.

Shizuo growls a little. "It's not a date! Just get us a damn table Simon!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get testy Shizuo. It bad for digestion." The giant tells him and leads the duo inside to a booth not near the back.

"We have many specials this evening. New cream cheese and olive sushi! Also regular sushi at good price!" Simon says handing the pair some menus.

"Yeah, sure, whatever it is just bring me a lot of it." Nausika drones, leaning heavily in the booth seat. Shizuo thinks she looks exhausted. Like she's about to pass out on the table.

"Just bring two specials, ok Simon. And those dumpling things you guys were selling last week." Shizuo tells the giant, taking off his glasses and putting them in his pocket.

"Of course, of course! And what you like to drink? We have good sake! Keep you warm on cold night." Simon offers, still with that big grin on his face.

Nausika seems to process this before her head pops up from staring at the table to look at him hopefully. "Do you have hot tea?"

Shizuo's shoulder jump just a little at the sound of that. She must be tired, he thinks, to sound so innocent and shy like that. Simon doesn't notice though and beams brightly at her. "Of course, of course! One pot of hot tea for Shizuo's pretty lady friend!" And before Shizuo can yell at him again, Simon is gone.

So instead he growls quietly to himself for a second before his attention is brought back to Nausika. "You ok?"

"No. Thank you for asking." She says snarkily. The corner of Shizuo's mouth juts up a little at her and his assumption that when she's tired she's cranky is unanimously confirmed.

"You'll get some food soon. Dennis is pretty fast when it comes to orders." Shizuo assures her.

"Just leave me to die." Nausika mutter followed by a loud smack when her head flops into the table. "Oww…"

Shizuo balks at the sound and her reaction. It's a little funny, to see a grown woman fall face first into a table like that. But he's genuinely concerned now because he's sure that even though he hasn't known her long she doesn't do things like that.

"One pot of hot tea and one order special Russia Sushi dumplings for cute couple!" Simon beams depositing the contents of his tray on to the table and effortlessly dodging the tiny soy sauce trays thrown at him. "Shizuo, my friend, you know we don't allow violence inside."

Shizuo glowers in rage but calms to just inner raging. Simon and Dennis have been good to him. They put up with a lot from the strong man who breaks cups and plates so easily sometimes, and has tossed a table or two in his day. He doesn't want to get banned.

"This is not going to be pretty." Nausika mutters quietly, having hauled herself up to a seat position again, as she snaps apart her chopsticks. The other blonde's brow furrows, confused as to what she means by that.

* * *

Shizuo's face is grimaced with disgusted as he watches Nausika eat. He's only ever seen someone shovel food like that into their mouths in cartoons and movies. He's actually really scared she's going to choke or her stomach will burst. "What the hell are you, a food camel?!"

The shout alerts the other blonde and she stops eating, face heating in a blush of shameful embarrassment at the look he's giving her. "Sorry…" Nausika mutters around a mouthful of food before swallowing. "I'm just really hungry."

"Do you always eat like that?" Shizuo asks curiously. And it earns him a small glare from the other blonde.

"No, I eat like anyone else. Actually I can go a really long time without eating. But when I heal like that it burns up all my calorie intake for the day and then some sometimes. So I was actually starving." Nausika explains.

"Hm, so how do you do that anyway? There has to be something you've figured out." Shizuo comments plainly before taking a sip of his own tea.

"I don't know, have you figured out how you can hurl vending machines and rip up street signs Shizuo?" Nausika retorts but can tell it struck a nerve in the blonde by the scowl on his face. "Like I said, it's basically always been this way." She begins, poking the last dumpling on her plate with her chopsticks.

"The first time I did it, I caught a bottle to the head when I was six . When I woke up the next morning the injury was gone. By the time I was ten it had progressed to the point that when I once fell out of a third story window and I just got up and walked away. Now it's advanced to this point." Nausika takes her pinky in her other hand and pulls it back until a loud crack sounds and the tip is bent back almost to her wrist. Shizuo shivers and grimaces at the sound and the sight of it. But then bone cracks and pops like the sound of rice crispies as it resets itself and goes back to its proper place. "Cuts, scrapes, broken bones, burns, bullet holes, you name it I've healed from it. At this point the pain from it is incoincidental. I can feel it; it just really isn't relevant to me. My pain tolerance is impossibly high now. I can't really control it though, it just kind of does it itself."

"So…your arm earlier…." Shizuo almost doesn't want the answer, but he still feels like he has to know.

"Yeah, you broke it. But it's not that big of a deal, it surprised me more than anything." She says with a shrug, but Shizuo still looks sad at the confirmation. "Hey, really, it's ok. Considering the other events of the evening that was pretty small in comparison."

He gets that she's trying to make him feel better, but all it does is make him think it that was his fault too. If he had held on to her or let her leave she wouldn't have ended up all cut up and blooded on Shinra's floor.

"Wow! You eat like starved tiger miss lady! You have good appetite! Means you have a good soul to feed!" Simon says cheerfully as way of greeting when he comes to their table.

"A good soul? I never heard that one before." Nausika says ruefully and Shizuo thinks he sees a flash of something across her face. He would have missed it if he wasn't looking at her. Was that sadness? Regret? Nostalgia in that smile just now?

"Since you Shizuo's new girl friend I give you special discount price! You come back again, yes? Always happy to have new friends at Russia Sushi!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Shizuo roars at the taller man but then pulls out his wallet and throws some money on the table for the bill.

"I can buy my own food. You can keep your money." Nausika tells him, seeming slightly confused as the blonde gets up to leave. His hands stuffed in his pockets and an irritated hunch in his shoulders.

"Look, it's my fault you had to eat all that, so I'm paying for it! Can't you just appreciate that you got a free meal like a normal person without getting smart!? Jeez!" Shizuo shouts before he calms down quickly with a hiss through his teeth. "I need a smoke."

* * *

Outside, in the harsh light of neon, Shizuo stalked outside and smoked angrily. He figures he should at least move down from Russia Sushi, he's probably scaring off business for Simon and Dennis, but he just can't find it in him to really care. He's annoyed and angry and mad at himself and confused and a thousand other things that he can't bring himself to also be worried if some people on the street are scared of him. _'Everyone is scared of me. What's the difference.'_

"You seem upset." Shizuo snaps out of his inner brooding in a start and turns to him left. Teal eyes look at him plainly. Not really in concern or fear or annoyance or really things he's used to expecting. Just blank eyes that are waiting for him to do something.

Shizuo hisses angrily through his teeth before scratching his crown with his free hand. "I _am_ upset! I screwed up again damnit! I'm a complete idiot when it comes to this stuff! I broke your arm! I made you fall into a glass table! I hucked a vending machine at you!"

"You know those last two aren't really your fault. One was an accident and you weren't aiming for me right?" Nausika says, still with a calm expression on her face. It gets Shizuo to stop mid drag of his cigarette and look at her curiously. He didn't get it. He was trying to spare her the inevitable back lash of being around him would bring and she just wasn't listening to him. As if reading his mind, she finished, "You're being really too hard on yourself about this. I'm fine. Nothing happened to me. And despite popular opinion from most people in this city I can take care of myself."

"Who says that?" He asks curiously, though not out of jealousy that someone else was talking to her. Of course not.

"You think that kid from tonight was the first one whose teeth I had to kick in. In case you missed it, I'm pretty hot and look like an easy target." She says it in a light hearted way that makes it sound like a joke. But Shizuo doesn't think it's funny. He's boiling at the thought that some punk tried to attack her or molest her or _worse_. He wants to go find them. He doesn't know who they are but he wants to find them and kill them dead! "Sorry I punched you in the face by the way."

The sudden apology knocks Shizuo out of his inner raging though, that was about to turn external, and he takes another long drag of his smoke. "It's ok. It didn't hurt." He confesses. And Nausika chuckles a little.

"Maybe next time I'll have to try harder."

This time the light hearted way she said it does make his mouth jut up a little in a smirk and he sighs out a small laugh. "Yeah, that'll teach me. Maybe I just need a swift kick in the head like that kid."

Nausika laughs a little louder with a smile and Shizuo even smile when he looks at her, wondering how they got to this comfortable place with everything that had gone on in the past few hours. "You left this by the way."

The yellow jacketed blonde produces a small fortune cookie out of almost thin air toward him. Shizuo is used to the fortune cookies Russia Sushi gives out. He doesn't like them. He thinks they taste bland and are gimmicky.

"You can have it." He says casually, going back to his cigarette for another long pull.

"I already got my fortune. Apparently, in the near future, a friend will bring me a gift. You have to open it or it's not your fortune. Those are the rules." She said, still holding the pale yellow cookie toward him.

Shizuo sighs. He has a feeling, just knows really, that she not going to let up on this. So he flick his almost dead cigarette off into the street and cracks open the cookie.

"So what's your future bartender-san?" Nausika asks after a beat.

"Don't call me that. And the paper was blank." He says and eats the stale cookie rather than throwing it away and shoves the paper in his pocket.

"That sucks. No fortune for Shizuo-chan."

"Definitely don't call me that." Shizuo growls and Nausika is actually taken aback.

"Ok, ok. I got it. Well, I'm gonna head home. I think I've had enough excitement for one evening. And I should probably crash and rest up." She recovers quickly.

"I'll walk you." Shizuo says moving to start in the direction of her apartment, but Nausika is just smirking.

"Why? Think 'cause you bought me dinner you're gonna get lucky?" She asks, but then laughs when Shizuo balks and his face heats up considerably. "Chill. It was a joke. But I think I'm gonna go it alone anyways." She says and starts stepping backwards before she whips around on her heels away from him. "See ya Shizuo." She calls over her shoulder with a slight wave.

The blonde watches her disappear into the crowd and does not follow. He tells himself she'll be fine and that he'll see her some other time. He doesn't have to worry.

Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the tiny piece of paper that held his fortune. _'Open your eyes. Follow your heart. The love you seek is near you.'_

* * *

_Thanks to indescribable music, BonaFide-Keehl, Vertan Yamamoto, ShikaTachidoriKitsuneHebiTak a, and all the guest reviewers from last time. Reviews, critiques, and feedback is still really appreciated! Love you guys! Internet cookies for all!_


	10. Soba Noddles and Spaghetti Sauce

_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! nor it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._

_A/N: Congrats to flyfly246 for winning round 2 of the drabble contest! Their prize will be up soon. If you all would like the contests to continue let me know!_

* * *

Celty was reluctant to show up when Izaya had texted her about a job. _'You'll just be on standby in case I need you.'_ He had said. _'I'll even still pay you for your time if it doesn't go through.'_ And although Celty didn't trust Izaya as far as she could throw him sometimes, she wasn't going to pass up the chance to make some extra money.

Plus, she guesses she does owe him a little. It had been Izaya's work as much as Shinra's that had gotten her the job in the first place. And, she didn't want to anger him by refusing. She had seen what the informant could do to people that angered him. There wasn't much he could really do to her, but Shinra….

"Hey, Celty, what's happenin'?" The headless fairie looks up at the blonde bartender standing beside her. Shizuo had seen her from the street near the park and decided to investigate. It wasn't like her to sit and people watch the crowd, so she had to have a reason.

_:Oh, hey Shizuo. Izaya sent me a text to wait here on stand by for a possible job.:_

Shizuo bristled at the mere mention of the dark eyed man. "Tsk! That damn flea! I saw him the other night. I don't get why he's back in Bukuro all of a sudden." _'But it can't be good!'_ Shizuo added mentally, sneering angrily as he pulled out his cigarettes.

Celty's head tilts a little before typing. _:You saw him and you didn't try to fight him?:_ She hadn't heard about any confrontations between the two since the vending machine incident a few weeks ago.

Shizuo hissed through his teeth. "He slithered off like the snake his is before I could catch him!" He exclaimed, but then simmered and scratched the back of his head. "Plus, I was meeting Nausika. And…I didn't want to be late."

The dullahan's back straighten a little in surprise. _'Shizuo gave up fighting Izaya to go meet with that woman? Hmmm….'_ She thought before typing out. _:How is Nausika by the way?:_

"Fine, I guess. I haven't talked to her in a few days." Shizuo confessed solemnly before sitting down and taking a drag of his lit cigarette.

_:Why? Did you get into a fight?:_

"No, at least I don't think so. After everything that happened I took her to Russia Sushi 'cause she said she needed to eat because of…that. Then she went home. I offered to go with her, to make sure she got there ok, but she said she wanted to be by herself. So I let her be." Shizuo explained.

Celty pauses for a moment before typing _:You should give her a call:._

"Why would I do that?" He didn't know what girls meant when they said they 'wanted to be alone' or 'they need space'. He figured she'd probably call when she wanted to see him. _If _she wanted to see him. He didn't want to bother or crowd her. But…still. He wanted to make sure she was ok. He knew it was weird to miss someone you just met and barely know, but he thinks he does. He thinks he misses her. Someone who is calm and unafraid of him. Someone who he now knows understands. Someone who…doesn't think he's a monster.

Celty is typing again.

_:You seem down about it. And you seem to like her very much.:_ Her pad reads and Shizuo turns his head away sharply, under the pretense of blowing smoke away from her none existent face.

"What if...she doesn't want to talk to me?" _'What if she doesn't want to see me again?' _He thinks but before he can go further down the rabbit hole with that though he hears Celty's key taping.

_:You won't know unless you try.:_

Shizuo's brain churns as his lungs inhale more smoke thinking about what Celty words. She knows, better than anyone perhaps, how hard he is on himself sometimes. So he thinks maybe what's she's really trying to tell him is more than just a phone call.

Before he could ponder the thought anymore the sound of a squabble reaches his ears.

"What the hell? A lover's spat?" Shizuo questions out loud at the couple across the way. The girl breaks from of the boy she's with a runs past him and Celty. The latter seems startled by the girl and takes off after her. Shizuo isn't sure what's going on but chases after her. It's not like Celty to do things rashly, so it must be important.

Celty catches up to her quickly and grasps the girls arm. The mystery girl freaks immediately screaming for Celty to go away. Shizuo comes up a second later and tries to diffuse the situation. People are staring.

"Alright, stop with the hysterics. Relax we're not here to hurt you. Calm down." He says evenly, but it seems to have no effect. The girl suddenly turns on him, screaming and flailing her other arm wildly. She hits him in the face a few times. It doesn't hurt but it's annoying, like a fly buzzing around his face.

Then, suddenly, there's a sharp pain in his leg. Confused, Shizuo looks down and sees a pen in it. And that he's now bleeding. The boy from earlier is crouched in front of him now by the girl and stabs another pen in his other leg. Shizuo, more confused as to why he's getting pens stuck in him, watches the boy rise with a serious look on his face.

"You let go of her right now!" He demands, threatening Shizuo with yet another pen.

The confusion of the situation is enough to give the girl a chance to escape. She flees and Celty seems to debate going after her or helping Shizuo.

"Go on, don't worry about me. This doesn't hurt." The blonde assures her before taking off his glasses. "I don't know what this is all about, but you do what 'ca gotta do." He tells her and smacks himself a little to sike himself up for the impending fight. "Hn, I've always wanted to say this: go on ahead and leave this one to me!" Shizuo says and does a cocky sort of move he's seen in action movies that he's also always wanted to try.

Celty clasps her hands together in thank you and then speeds off on her bike after the girl.

"Get your hands off her!" The kid yells, chasing after the party, which has no increased by one other boy pulling the girl down the street.

"Easy pal you're not going anywhere." Shizuo says and grabs the guy by the collar, effortlessly lifting him in the air. The guy is flailing wildly. Apparently a common trait of the 'happy couple'.

"Let me go! Let me go!" He cries, but Shizuo isn't listening.

"Tell me, is that your girlfriend?" The blonde asks in a bored tone.

"She is! Fate brought us together!" He tells him passionately. But Shizuo is unswayed.

"So then, why is she acting like that?" Shizuo asks, still seeming bored with the situation while keeping a grip on the kid.

"Like I'd know!" He cries. And suddenly Shizuo isn't bored anymore.

"What the hell kind of answer is that?!" The ex-bartender roars and swings the kid around like a rag doll before he sends him flying.

He bounces off a delivery truck and into some bushes. Sore, but mostly unscathed, Shizuo picks him up again calmly, but by the front of his shirt this time.

"So you say that you love her, but you don't know anything about her. Guess you're a pretty lame boyfriend then, aren't 'ca?" Shizuo accuses but the kid doesn't seem to get it.

"All that I need to know about her is that I love her. That's all!" He says, still passionately foolish.

"Ok, then educate me. How did fate bring you both together?" Shizuo asks, shaking the kid a little in irritation.

"It's because I love her! It's just as simple as that! Love is a feeling, you can't explain it! It has no words!" The kid cries, still on his love crazed soap box and Shizuo is getting more annoyed. _'Stupid kid! How can you be in love with someone you don't even know?!' _He thinks, ignoring the almost silent voice inside him that's calling him a hypocrite. "Now let me go." The kid demands. "My actions will prove my love! I'll prove it!" Then the kid tries to stab Shizuo in the face with another pen, but Shizuo catches it with his hand. Well, more through his hand.

The blonde lowers his impaled hand to reveal an almost homicidal smirk. "I like you a lot better than Izaya. So I'm only gonna send you home with this!" He tells him and then head butts the kid's forehead before depositing him in a heap on the ground.

Then Shizuo calmly takes out his glasses again, ignoring the crowd, and walks away. "Gah, this will just bleed if I take it out. Better stop again get a Band-Aid. Or maybe super glue will do the trick?"

* * *

The bell above the drug store dings when Shizuo exits it. With his newly purchased box of Band-Aids he's ready to go home and call it a day.

The clerk behind the counter hadn't said anything about his predicament when he comes up but fretfully looks at the blonde like he wants to. Shizuo just assumes he's scared that if he asks he'll get pissed and wrecks the place. Which Shizuo has to admit is a 50-50 shot. But Shizuo remains calm, hands him his money, and walks back out just like that.

He uses his uninjured hand hand to pull out a cigarette and is about to light it when he hears a sudden, "Hey hot stuff got a light?"

Shizuo sneers, thinking it's a prostitute on an early shift, but then gets a stunned look with wide eyes when he see who it is.

"Hey," He says smoothly, feeling a little out of place that she's suddenly here in front of him.

Nausika smirks in a Cheshire like manner before giving a shrug. "I saw your hair through the window. Are those…pens in your legs?"," She replies, seeing his confusion, before her face blossoms into a look of morbid confusion.

The question knocks Shizuo out of his trance and he flounders for a second before coming back. "Oh yeah, I'm tryin' to fix that." He says and tries to rubs the back of his neck. But forgot there was a pen in his hand.

"There's a pen in your hand too." Nausika says still with that morbid curiosity.

"Yeah, I was going to fix that once I got this straight." He says gesturing at himself because honestly he didn't know which one to tackle first.

"Why are there pens in you?"

"Some kid stabbed me with 'em when I wouldn't let him chase after his hysterical girlfriend." He explains calmly with a shrug. The other blonde arches a sculpted brow.

"Ah…" Nausika says, not really understanding but going with it. "You want some help?" She asks, back to her normal calm. Shizuo gives a small 'hn?' before the space between them is suddenly gone in a few quick strides of her long legs "I'm not your doctor friend, but I know some first aid. Despite their oddity they don't seem that bad." She tells him, his hand in both of hers as she looks at it critically.

"Um…yeah, sure. But I was just gonna get a Band-Aid…" Shizuo replies, stammering a little. Shizuo feels his face heat up in embarrassment at her suddenly so close to him. He's not used to people being close to or touching him. Let alone women.

Nausika chuckles a little and glances up at him through her lashes. "They may not be that bad, but they're a step up from Band-Aid bad." She says before dropping his hand. "If you don't want to you can say no." She adds with her hands on her hips.

"No, no! I didn't say that." He replies quickly and she chuckles again.

"Ok. I'm assuming you can walk fine right?" She says and heads down the street.

* * *

"Home sweet home." Nausika dead pans when they get to her apartment, taking off her shoes and putting her jacket on a hook. Shizuo takes off his shoes too. He doesn't want to be rude to her house. "Have a seat on the couch. I'll get my kit." She says as heads deeper into the apartment.

Shizuo sits as instructed and takes a minute to look around. Her place is nice, he thinks. It's slightly bigger than his, but has a standard layout like most single person apartments, and is _way _cleaner. He's not a pig by any means. He takes good care of his stuff. But, looking around, Shizuo thinks that it's perhaps a little too clean and organized for someone who's been here for a few weeks now. It looks like it hasn't been lived in, like a showcase apartment really. Where's the pictures? The knick-knacks? The livable clutter?

It's really weird he thinks. But he likes the blue curtains on the main window. Those are nice.

"Ok, let's get started." Nausika says once she's back in the room. She kicks the coffee table a little bit with her foot to give her more room to crouch in front of him. And then sets the box on the wooden table.

"That's your first aid kit?" Shizuo questions skeptically. "I don't think Shinra has a kit that big." Her kit is more like a tackle box of medical supplies. He's not even sure what you would keep in a box that size. The small white box you can get at the drug store is more his speed.

"You can never be too prepared." She says with a slight chuckle, sitting on her ankles in front of him pulling out gauze and medical tape and antiseptic for him before getting to work.

"Seems kind of extensive...for someone like you." The blonde comments, not bothering to flinch at the sting of the antiseptic on his hand.

"It wasn't for me most of the time. It was for people I knew." She replies causally, seeming more focused on the task than conversation. He thinks she looks kind of….sexy like that, all serious and focused. But the thought makes his face heat up again and he mentally berates himself for acting like a child.

"Back at your old place?" He asks suddenly.

"Yeah. This is gonna hurt." She warns, an obvious dodge of his question, and he's about to tell her that when the pen is suddenly ripped from his hand quickly and gauze is placed on both sides of the small hole.

"Goddamnit!" He roars painfully.

"I warned you." She says coolly, wrapping medical tape around the gauzes to secure it to his hand.

"It hurt worse coming out than it did going in."

"That's what she said." Nausika mutters with a smirk that gets her a glare from the ex-bartender before she holds up her hands in apologetic surrender before cutting the tape.

"What did you do? Back there I mean. Did you go to school somewhere? Work? Family? Friends?" Shizuo asks and Nausika glances up at him for a second before starting on his legs.

"I was home schooled after middle school and I did odd jobs for work mostly." She replies, applying antiseptic gingerly. But Shizuo gets the same feel that he did the other night that these answers are forced and rehearsed. But they seem to be less full of lies, more half-truths really. He still doesn't like it.

"Odd jobs that can get you a place like this?" He questions critically, thinking maybe that if he can blow wholes in her story she'll come clean. This place is nice. And if he remembers right she still doesn't have a job at the moment. So where did the money come from?

"My sister and I saved a lot for a long time to come here." She replies, but her shield is still intact.

Shizuo growls a little. "Still, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense. What kind of-"Not to interrupt but do you want me to fix your legs with your pants on or off?" The blonde on the floor is suddenly up on her knees between his and very close to him. He can smell the mint of her toothpaste her face she is so close to him and feel the heat from her hands on his legs that heat seems to go straight to his face; and other places.

"O-on is fine…" Shizuo stammers horribly, ridged as a board, and darts his face away. He doesn't want her to see his face lit up like a tomato, blushing like a girl. _'Damnit!'_

Nausika sits back on her ankles, realizing that he's uncomfortable and that the ploy may have been a little cruel. She feels bad. She finds that odd. "Why the sudden questions?" She asks and removes one pen before giving it the same treatment as his hand.

Shizuo looks back at her and returns to his previous position. "It's not sudden. You said you wanted to know about me. Why can't I know about you?"

"I'll tell you anything you want to know. But I don't want to talk about that." She responses flatly.

"Why not?" Shizuo snaps, getting frustrated that she's dodging him.

"Because I just don't." She tells him, with a little more force this time and perhaps removes the last pen a bit more roughly because of it.

Shizuo shouts in pain before snapping at her again. "Why not?!" It's louder this time. He doesn't get it! He's trying to get to know her. Make an effort. And she's stone walling him!

Nausika's face snaps up toward his, a glare in her pretty teal eyes. "I uprooted my entire life to move to this city that I had never even been to or knew anyone from. Don't you think that would be a hint that I don't want to talk about it?" She snaps coldly.

And Shizuo flinches before he deflates sadly. "Sorry." He mutters. Ok, he gets it now. He does kind of realize that that was pretty stupid. And he doesn't have the right to ask her about things she doesn't want to tell him. _'Idiot'_

Nausika pauses in packing her kit back up and looks over her shoulder at him briefly. She seems to think long and hard about something before she sighs quietly as if coming to a decision on something before turning around to face him.

"My name is Nausika Yumi. I'm 24 and was born in Ibaraki. I'm half Japanese and American. My mother died when I was fourteen and I didn't know my father than well. He's dead. I had a sister named Chidori who was four years younger than me. I hate cabbage and lemon jello and the color lime green. I like almost any other food. I like cooking, classical music, and emerald green. I have mild insomnia and a fear of birds. And in the past 15 seconds you now know more about me than probably anyone else knows about me." She told him and Shizuo looks at her in surprise. "Feel better?" She asks and he actually smiles a little bit.

"Yeah, I guess. Birds hn?"

"They are awful, beady eyed creatures that will peck out your eyes in your sleep." She says in justification. "Is there anything else you want to know?"

"Yeah, just one thing." He says and she calmly waits for him to ask, minus the tense in her shoulders. "I was thinking, the other night, when you told me about your.._thing_, when you said when it started. What did you mean by that?"

There's a beat as Nausika seems to wrap her head around the question and memory lane as she snaps the box closed. "I mean my mother threw a bottle at me when I was six and I caught it with my head." She says finally much to Shizuo's visable surprise. "To be fair though I was egging her on. My sister wouldn't stop crying and she really hated that. I figured if she was pissed at me, she wouldn't throw it at her." She adds easily, much more easily than Shizuo thinks such a story deserves, while standing. "Are you hungry?"

"What?" Shizuo asked, a little startled and confused.

"Are you hungry? Cause I'm hungry and I was going to make some food. Would you like some?" Nausika asks more clearly with her arms crossed under her breasts like she's waiting.

"You're not gonna kick me out?" He asks. He would have expected her to ask him to leave.

But she just shrugs and gives a casual, "No, why?"

And the simple statement, whether it's how she said it or whatever he's not sure, suddenly kicks a light bulb kicked on in his head.

She didn't mind...

So Shizuo drops it and smiles slightly. "Yeah, actually, I'm starving. If you don't mind."

"Wouldn't have asked if I did." She mutters, hopping over the couch rather than going around it like a normal person to head for the kitchen. "I'm in the mood for Italian. So I'm making Italian." She adds while rummaging through her cabinets.

"That's fine." He says plainly, with that normal even droll he has when he's not raging, before leaning against the bar that separates the living room and the kitchen. "It was a refrigerator."

"Hn?" Nausika says curiously, popping her head out of her own fridge.

"When I…first used my strength. I was mad at my younger brother Kasuka and tried to throw it at him." Shizuo explains sheepishly, scratching the side of his nose.

"Why were you going to throw a fridge at him?"

"I don't know. I think he ate my pudding." He replies because he honestly doesn't remember at this point what it was about. Just that it was something stupid. And he had been angry.

"You were going to kill your brother over pudding?" She asks with that _'you're an idiot'_ expression.

The blonde male growls slightly, feeling mocked. "I was like seven and I wasn't thinking!" He shouts before simmering quickly. "I didn't even get to throw it at him. I broke about eight or nine bones before I could go through with it."

"Did your brother at least apologies for eating your pudding?" She asks over the clang of pots getting set up.

"No."

"Rude!" She accuses looking momentarily offended by that. "You eat a guy's snack-pack and piss him off enough to try and throw a fridge at you, the _least_ you could do is say 'hey bro, sorry I ate your pudding cup. My bad.'" She says, the ending in what he's guessing is supposed to be a mimic of a man. It's an awful attempt. But it's so awful that it makes Shizuo laugh hard enough to hold his sides. She tells him it's not that funny, but for some reason he thinks it is.

They spend the rest of the evening chatting about this and that. When they run out of things they stop until one of them picks it back up again. Apparently they share a fondness for action movies, milkshakes, and fruit tarts. He tells her about his brother and she tells him why she loves the beach. The store Nausika gets her groceries from doesn't sell Italian foods, so she has to use soba noodles and homemade sauce instead. Shizuo doesn't mind. It's odd but it's good. It was really good. He loves it really.

* * *

_Reviews would be wonderful please!_


	11. Caught Between a Fox and a Hound

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

_A/N: At the bottom. Please read!_

* * *

The skyline above Ikebukuro is dazzling with stars in the crystal clear moon light. But, no one ever sees them. The bright lights of Otome road always outshine and blot out the stars so that the view past the neon and skyscrapers is an inky black.

"What's the meaning of life? What's the reason we're here? Some guy asked me that once and I responded by pounding his pathetic ass to chum!" A tall blonde ex-bartender ponders calmly while looking up at the skyline, "I get an emo kid in junior high asking that, but a twenty something yakuza? That's just wrong."

"I see!" The large Russian says in response while handing out flyers to passers-by.

"Hey Simon, come clean, you're not getting a single word of this are you?" Shizuo accuses angrily, feeling slightly mocked that he's been rambling for twenty minutes or so and all he's gotten from the other man is 'I see'.

"I see! Very true!" Simon beams and Shizuo growls. Irritated he grabs the handle bars of an unsuspecting biker puttering next to him and whips it around like a toy at the man, who surprisingly catches it like he's waiting for it.

The biker, who looked tough and proud on his motorcycle, scampers to his feet and down the road like a scared child when he's thrown from it.

"Hey! Watch where the hell you're goin'! It's not like they're gonna hit _you_ with it!" A sharp cry breaks out from over the crowd when the now timid man roughly bumps into someone.

Shizuo freezes and looks over his shoulder. "Nausika?" He says curiously as if he's not still dead locked with Simon over a bike that's about to crack.

"Ah! Shizuo's pretty lady friend!" Simon cries with a grin.

"Hey, it's Simon right?" She says with a quirk of a smile, hands in her jacket pockets as she approaches them.

"Nausika, what are you doing here?" Shizuo asks oddly, still perplexed by her presence, and setting the bike down calmly along with Simon, who goes back to handing out flyers to intimidated pedestrians with a wide smile and knowing grin.

Nausika's smile falters slightly as she ponders, _'What am I doing here?'_ reliving the events that had brought her to this place.

* * *

_Nausika sighs as she crosses out another advertisement in the classifieds for a job she wasn't going to bother applying for._

_Though she is smart, talented, a hard work, and very dependable, that didn't really translate well on paper for hiring managers. They wanted concrete evidence like work experience, references, and background history. Things she didn't have._

_She sighed heavily again and tossed the paper next to her on the bench before pinching the bridge of her nose. This was harder than she thought.** 'If I had known it was going to be this frustrating to be domesticated I would have saved myself the headache and just shot myself in the face.'**_ _She thought bitterly, flopping back against the wooden bench back and looking up at the bright blue sky; never having ever regretted her life choices so far so much as she did right now._

_ "Ah, yellow jacket-san! What a wonderful surprise!" The blonde flinches a little and sits back up looking tiredly at the man grinning devilishly next to her._

_"I'm sorry who are you?" She asks in a bored tone, but she knows who he is. Well, she knows of him. She remembers him as "tacky coat kid" but Shizuo calls him flea or Izaya. **'Izaya Orihara'** she remembers suddenly._

_Izaya doesn't seem bothered by her act in the least. In fact, he laughs. "Hehehe! Oh come now, let's not play games. You know who I am, yellow jacket-san." He crows, sliding up closer to her._

_"What do you want?" Nausika asks, anxious of his presence, while standing. She's seen enough bad character to know one when she sees them. And he makes her skin crawl. Somehow she thinks he knows this judging by his smirk and he thoroughly enjoys it._

_"I just came to invite you to a little get together that's happening later on Otome Road. It's a…flash mob of sorts. You should totally come." He says casually while walking past her before circling back behind her, like she's prey._

_"No thanks." Nausika responds evenly, unfazed. Izaya smirks and spins around on his heels._

_"Why not? Got plans with Shizu-chan again?" He asks suddenly and Nausika face flashes with surprise which fuels his grin. "Don't give me that face. The circles he and I run in are small, very small indeed. Plus, it's hard to keep a low profile when you wear such an iconic piece of clothing and are seen with such an iconic figure in Ikebukoro, yellow jacket-san." Izaya says while pulling at the flap of her jacket a little as if examining it and narrowly dodging the strike aimed for his face. "Touchy~! One would think your quite attached to that coat of yours, yellow jacket-san."_

_"I just don't like to be touched." She tells him with a sneer, dusting as her jacket as if to get his germs off it._

_"Oh I highly doubt that. But then again, maybe it's just me." Izaya says with a smirk, not seeming offended by it at all as he walked past her again. "However, I would reconsider coming to the event tonight. It's gonna be one for the highlight reel." He tells her with a twisted smirk and Nausika has had enough._

_She sighs heavily and shoves her hands it her coat pocket. "You just can't take a hint can you?" She says and turns her back on him to leave. Something that later she will realize is not something to do to Izaya._

_The raven informant chuckles darkly before breaking out into his false zeal again. "I'll see you later!…Nausika-kun."_

* * *

"I was just around." Nausika says with an easy smile to cover the lie.

She doesn't care about this apparent flash mob or whatever the hell is going on.

She's here to see Izaya.

She needs to ask him who he got her name. She had never told it to him. Hell only four people in this whole city should know her name! Izaya was none of them.

It made her…apprehensive.

She had taken it as a joke when he had said that he was watching her, but now she had to assume he was serious. What else did he know about her? And where had he gotten that information from?

This was a problem. And she didn't like problems. So she wanted it to be dealt with quickly.

But she doesn't tell Shizuo that. She hasn't known him long but knows enough that the man is a trigger button for the other. And…she really doesn't want to get into the why of it all with him. She's…. apprehensive that he might ask questions. Questions she can't deflect with trivial, yet personal facts about her life. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she laughs at the irony at how her secrets have flip-flopped.

Shizuo seems to buy the tale at face value though. He even smiles. "You seem to be an awful lot of places I tend to be." He says and she knows that he's mocking her for her abrasiveness in one of their encounters.

"Well that's the difference between us Shizuo. I am stalking you." Nausika tells him with a wink that causes Shizuo to hiss through his teeth and look away.

But he's not embarrassed or anything. He just thought he saw something….over there….

"You should probably get goin' though. Somethin' is about to go down here that you probably don't want to get wrapped up in. But…if you got the time…I mean if you're not busy…would you wanna met up later? I kinda…wanted to talk to you about something." He says, cool up until that point at the end when he stammers and looks at her fretfully before focusing way too much on his cigarette.

He's been thinking about her a lot lately, enough for not only Celty to notice but also Tom and Shinra. Shinra had been an idiot about the whole thing. He went on and on about how Shizuo was in love like him and his 'beloved' Celty, no matter how much Shizuo denied it or threaten to beat his skull in. Tom had been more helpful. He always was. _"Hey, that's great man!"_ Tom had told him when he had weaseled what was distracting his employee and kohai out of him over lunch. _"I've been tellin' you for years now; you need to get yourself a girlfriend. Ok, ok, don't give me that look. I'm just glad you found someone you can relate to Shizuo. Someone has to look out for you when I'm not around right?"_ Shizuo had smiled and thanked him, also happy that he had kind of taken the pressure off him. Tom would be happy if he just had a friend. And honestly, Shizuo was ok with that too.

Nausika snaps straight at Shizuo's suggestion though. She's seen that look before, heard that speech. She's always been a very pretty girl, the one good thing her mother ever gave her, so she's heard it before. _'No. Oh God no! I can't…I mean, I shouldn't…I don't want…Do I…? Really? This right now, really?! I can't handle this! I can't handle this right now!'_

The sound of two black cars coming to a screeching halt knocks her out of her reeling and she notices the men in black suits getting out before the cars speed off. Her eyes narrow a fraction at them. She knows who they are, maybe not from where, and thinks _'God, why don't you wear a sign.'_ because if they were going to be that obvious they might as well. No one else seems to notice as the 'discreetly' filter through the crowd. She gets on edge. She wonders, briefly, what they're here for, if this was why Izaya told her to come, and what he thought she planned to do about it if it was.

The answer was nothing. If they weren't here for her personally and didn't bother she didn't plan on intervening.

Despite whatever story people had seemed to come up with about her, she wasn't a hero.

Suddenly there a kid in the middle of the crowd causing a ruckus that gets her and Shizuo's attention. Nausika thinks she recognizes him, but from where she can't be sure. It seems odd what he's doing. Until the sounds of various, numerous phones going off floods the crowd. Too many to be a coincidence and too many to be anywhere close to normal.

Shizuo and Nausika look around curiously until Shizuo own phone goes off and he looks at the apparent message with furrowed brows. "Quick, take out your phone and look at it." Shizuo says quietly causing Nausika to arch her brow. "Just do it!"

Nausika, though confused, decides to go along. Something is going on and she isn't what, but Shizuo seems to know at least a little.

But he doesn't actually. He doesn't get why this is going on all of a sudden with the Dollars. He just showed up because he was bored and had gotten the message. Plus, he wanted to be there in case all hell broke loose like the last time a gang amassed like this. Maybe his freakish strength could be used for good for something for once.

But now he's worried.

He had assumed that since Nausika just came to Ikebukoro a few weeks ago that there was no way she could be part of the Dollars. That there was no way she could be there. But the universe seemed to like to prove him wrong and she _was_ there. That made him even more nervous. The text had called anyone else an 'enemy'. What if someone decided to not 'just watch quietly' anymore?

The thought caused Shizuo to subconsciously shift closer to the other blonde and put his arm around her shoulder in a protective manner.

Nausika blinked then looked up at the slightly taller man peculiarly. He didn't seem to be paying attention to her or be even aware that he was practically holding her. His eyes were very serious behind his shades as he looked around and his face more stern than she had seen it before. She guessed she can see it now, why everyone was apparently so afraid of him. She thinks briefly that if he was coming at her with that serious calm and intent to kill even she'd be terrified.

But of course, she's not. She actually quite…calm with him touching her, which is weird for her. She's not use to being close to people, physically or metaphorically. It had taken years for the people in her small circle of trust to get there. How did this guy get in in a few weeks?

Her head reels again before she pulls her ponytail like a stop cord and thinks, _'Snap out of it! I have to find Izaya! Izaya, Izaya, and get what I need from him. Izaya!'_ But she is still finding it very hard to focus with Shizuo pressed against her. She hadn't known he wore cologne until he was this close to her. It smelled…nice.

The novelty of the crowd seems to wear off on the men in suits and their lead woman. But soon a new novelty breaks across the city sky line. The whinny of a horse and the loud roar of "Screw it!" as a black motorcycle barrels down a building, her scythe clawing at the glass and iron.

"Celty?" Shizuo breathes in awe as he watches her land in the crowd. He seems concerned for his friend, and seems to hold Nausika by the shoulder tighter because of it. She isn't bothered, too enthralled by the Black Rider and the shadows that no one seems to notice galloping along the side of the bike.

_'Please tell me someone else can hear her.'_ She thinks, hoping she hasn't gone crazy.

When she lands and dismounts, the men in suits attack her but to no avail. Nausika is confused as to what her scythe is actually cutting as it slices through them with no wound as men fall to the ground.

And then finally, it happens.

One of the men tries to hit her in the head. But the problem is with Celty she doesn't have a head. So the nightstick just hits her helmet. And the hit sends the yellow piece toppling to the ground. Celty's truly headless form exposed.

The crowd seems dumbstruck for a moment before responding. Some stand and take pictures of her like she's famous or a side-show. Others run away.

The jostling of the crowd near them knocks Shizuo and Nausika around a little bit. The taller blonde is about to get angry before he seems to realize his throwing arm is wrapped around the shoulders of the other blonde tightly. His face stains red horribly and he drops his arm from her before shoving his hands in his pockets quickly with a mumbled apology.

Nausika gets a familiar itch up her spine, the one that says police are coming soon, and steels herself away. "We should go." She says, ignoring the fact that more mayhem is still going on in the distance with the left over crowd, and Shizuo nods numbly.

When they get a few paces away from the crowd Nausika says abruptly, "So…that was interesting."

Shizuo grumbles a little, "Yeah I guess." He agrees, distant all of the sudden before stopping suddenly.

Nausika stops a few paces a head, realizing he wasn't beside her, and turns back around. "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, I mean no, not really. I..just wanted to talk to you real quick. If you got a minute?" The blonde man stammers horribly, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly and staring at the ground. His eyes flicker up over the top of his shades a few times. He thinks it's trippy how the world goes from blue to Technicolor so fast, and since she hasn't said anything or left he can continue. "I just…I mean I…I really..think your…great. And…I just wanted to…I mean you can say no if you want…but I was wondering if…" Suddenly the blonde body guards back goes ridged and his brow furrows angrily as his lips curl into a sneer.

"Shizuo? What's wrong?" Nausika asks curiously, startled by the sudden shift in him, but he isn't listening.

The blonde is seething as he stalks over to a newspaper dispenser and grabs hold of the bottom, ripping it out of the concrete before throwing it 20 feet away.

"Shizuo what the hell?!" Nausika yells, but he still isn't listening as he then rips out a street sign too.

"Izzzaya!" Shizuo roars.

Nausika gasps a little. _'Izaya? Where?!'_ She thinks, looking around and finding him down the street. He seems to be talking to the ruckus kid before he flees.

Shizuo growls and dashes after him "Get back here you bastard! Izaya!"

"Shizuo don't! Wait!" Nausika yells again but it's too late. Izaya is sprinting off like a fox and Shizuo is after him like a hound. She takes off after them, hoping that Shizuo doesn't run him off very far. She still needs to get some answers out of him before Shizuo beats him to a pulp. He can have him later, but she needed him now. "Shizuo damnit stop!" She shouts but they're too far gone for her to catch up once she rounds the corner after them.

She sighs heavily and rubs her temples. _'Fantastic.'_

* * *

With the excitement all over Nausika trudged back to her apartment with heavy feet. She thought over and over again how she was going to get to Izaya now that he had disappeared. She debated asking Shizuo, but nixed it just as quickly. She pictures him screaming and carrying on or just getting quietly upset with her or calling her a liar and she doesn't want that.

She thinks that maybe that doctor Shinra or Celty knows where he is, since Izaya had said their circle was small. However, she nixes that idea too. She pictures them asking her questions on why she needs to see him and doesn't want that either.

_'How am I going to find him then? He just seems to show up unexpectantly and without warning. Hmm…he did say that he likes interesting things. Maybe if I blew something up….' _

"Don't look so down, Nausika-kun." The blonde whips around to face the brunette smirk at her while leaning against a light post. "You'll get premature lines in that pretty face."

"How did you get here?" She asks angrily. But he doesn't seem to care.

"I followed you from a few blocks back. I figured you'd want to see me. You should be more aware of your surroundings." He tells her casually while twirling his hand in a similar manner.

"How do you know my name?" She demands evenly, serious and hard. Izaya chuckles, hands in his pockets and spinning whimsically.

"Ah right to the point! But, this place is too common for a meeting such as ours. I know a much more special place, if you're interested?" Izaya says. His brown eyes bright with mirth and evil and a matching smile when she follows him unquestioningly.

He takes her to the place that jumpers go when they can't bear the pain of existence anymore. The last girl he took there was very interesting. He hopes she'll be just as interesting, if not more.

"How do you know my name?" She demands again, her blonde hair fluttering around her serious face in the night breeze. Izaya just laughs again.

"I already told you: the circle Shizu-chan and I run in are small. And it wasn't really hard considering the up roar your making. First the blue squares, then that mugger a few nights ago, you should really start wearing a mask if you're going to be a vigilante." The brunette tells her from his perch on the railing.

"And you just _happened_ to stumble on this information?" Nausika asks venomously and Izaya practically giggles.

"I'm an informant. It's my job to find things on people."

"Someone hired you to find out about me?" She questions and Izaya's sharp eyes catch the tension in her body. It's slight, but there, and he finds it wonderful.

"No, no. I did this for my own personal enjoyment." He assures her, for once telling the truth.

"Why?" She asks with a slight sneer. Though relived it wasn't for anyone it still bothers her that he's practically stalking her in his 'free time'.

"Because I find you fascinating!" He tells her cheerfully like that's the only reason he needs. "Even before I knew you were convening with Shizu-chan, I just knew there was something odd about you. So I kept my ear to the ground and I did a little digging. And boy what gold did I find." Izaya crows but Nausika glares at him. Izaya isn't fazed though and just continues to beam before telling the story.

"You were born from the bastardized union of a Julian Paul, an American tourist, and Hiroki Yumi, the first son of a Yakuza crime boss, right here in this very city. Lost in the sea of metropolis, the young and beautiful Julian was whisked off her feet by the charming Hiroki and feel madly in love. Or at least, I'm assuming she was in love since she went through all that pesky trouble of getting her last name changed to his _without_ any record of them getting married." He says and circles her, like he is prone to do, before continuing. "So then to prove her love for him Hiroki got her to start working for him. And soon the beautiful Julian was hooked on all kinds of drugs and blowing Johns in back allies all across the city. But then! A silver lining to this story in the form of a little pink blanket." He pauses for effect smirking at her knowingly. "Paternity tests in Ibaraki confirmed that Hiroki had fathered Julian's child. So in order to save himself the shame of his colleagues and father finding out her had 'sampled his own stock' he moved the American and her half breed child away. The story gets rather boring from their in my opinion. Monthly visits to send his bed warmer and child money. Phone calls from a scared toddler to authorities on her drug addict mother almost ODing. Records from schools documenting 'possible' child abuse up until about the end of elementary school. Another kid." He pauses again, noticing the fraction of a flinch at the mention of her sister, before beaming. "So tell me Nausika-kun, did the beatings stop or did you just get better at dodging them?"

"I got better at dodging them." She answers after a pause and Izaya begins cackling madly.

"I knew it! I knew I was right! You know I made bits and pieces of that story up, but _knowing_ you were right is just so rewarding." He says, laughing a minute more before calmly back into his normal exterior. "Now, do you want to hear my second favorite part of the story? Well, there's two really. Part one: at age fourteen your mother finally ends up killing herself, like she always wanted, with her drugs and when child services comes to get you and your sister, you've vanished. Poof! Just gone without a trace. I wonder…where did you and your sister go for nearly 10 years? Children can't make it that long being homeless without some kind of record. Where did you go? What did you have to do to survive?" He questions, that mad, wicked smile twisted on his lips. But still, Nausika seems unfazed.

"You said you had a second favorite part to this story?" She asks in her typical bored tone she takes with him.

"Ah yes! I almost forgot! My second favorite part of the story was a more recent event. It was this!" Izaya blade cuts through the air and across Nausika's cheek in lightning speed before skittering back. The blonde snaps back quickly, not expecting the move, but the damage has been done. "Shinra's a good guy." He tells her, not seeming surprised when the cut slides back closed miraculously. "Real level headed and a good friend. But he doesn't regularly have a good head for keeping things he's interested in quite. Poor kid probably didn't even know he had let it slip that you were a freak and dating that monster." He adds laughing with a crescent eyed smile before approaching once more, circling her again. "I wonder though were you like Shizu-chan and the only one who was _special_? Or did your pretty, dearly departed sister have the same _uniqueness_ that you do?" He asks with a wicked smile before he is startled when a set of hands shoot out and grab him by his coat.

"Hey, what are you-"Trying to kill you, what's it look like?" She replies seriously as she hauls him to the edge. "If I push you you'll fall too far and the cops that find you will know you got pushed. So if I want to make it look like a suicide I have to drop you close to the edge." She tells him calmly as she easily pulls him up so that he is precariously over the edge.

"Gosh, with that bit of knowledge, one might think you've done this before, Nausika-kun." Izaya mocks but his smirk is whipped away when she holds his left shoulder tighter, her thumb digging into the pressure point there until he feels his knees buckle from it.

"You don't know anything about me." Nausika tells him coldly, indifferent towards his apparent pain. "You call Shizuo a monster and laugh at him and people like me. But you have no idea what real monsters look like. I know. I see one every time I look in the mirror_, Izaya-kun_." She tells him, mocking him, eyes cold as steel and Izaya is scraping for purchase on the ledge as she slowly continues to push him. "My ticket to the afterlife has already been punched. One more body isn't going to make my seat any hotter in hell. But I will grant you one final mercy and let you fall backwards. It's really traumatizing to see the pavement coming towards you, trust me."

And Izaya can feel that the majority of him is over the edge. And he has no doubt that she'll let him go.

"Go on then. Prove it to me. Prove to me that you're a monster and let this foolish dream of being human all go. Get it over with now and go back to the life you once knew before you! You know it's what you _really_ want Nausika-kun." Izaya crows happily. His act is flawless in his opinion and one that he'll pat himself on the back for later if he makes it out of here alive.

It honestly surprises the both of them after a minute or so she pulls him back on the landing before letting him go.

"How boring, it would have been much more interesting if you dropped me." The raven tells her, casually dusting off his jacket in a similar manner she had done to him that day.

"I'll say this clearly, so you can understand and take to heart what I'm about to tell you Orihara. This fascination you have with me: you better get over it _very_ quickly. You have no idea what I had to do to get this new life. And you have no idea what I would do to keep it." She warns him, stare still cold and unwavering.

Izaya smiles and spins on his heels away from her. "Oh, I have a few ideas. But that is irrelevant to me. All I wanted to do was see if I was right and what would happen. Now I have and now I'm bored. Until I find something else more interesting to add, I'll be leaving you alone for the time being." He tells her, that wicked smile still pressed to his lips before beaming. "I won't even tell anyone what happened here or what I know. It will be our little secret Nausika-kun! A sign that we'll be good friends! It's not like you have anyone anyway. You're all alone in the big Ikebukuro world." Nausika glares at him. But Izaya doesn't seem to care and skitters up to the next landing. "I'll see you later Nausika-kun!" He cries with a wave. And then he's gone into the darkness.

The blonde looks after him in the dark for a moment then turns to look a little more introspectively. _'Our little secret…good friends…not like I have anyone…monster…freak…all alone…'_ She closes her teal eyes tightly, shaking her head a little, and taking a deep breathe.

She opens her eyes again and looks up as if some answer would fall from the stars. She sighs again, looks back into the dark, and walks the other way.

* * *

_Thanks to flyfly246, gzillafan, Erika the prez, ReadingBlueWolf, Reiko-desu for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Reviews and opinions are still and always greatly appreciated! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! 3_

_Important note/poll question: First- I will be starting a drabble spin-off of this story of 'extra chapters' that don't really fit into the major story line. Second- there is a possibility that either that this story **and/or** the drabble set will be M rated (most of the drabbles will be K-T). My questions: how many people would like more "mature" content in this story? I still haven't made a decision on that so I would like readers opinions.  
_


	12. Reasons for visits at 2 in the morning

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_A/N: Reposting due to a problem viewing this chapter. It shows up on LivePreview but not in the actual story...:/_**

* * *

"Alright, ALRIGHT! I'm coming Goddamnit!" Shizuo shouts angrily at the loud banging on his door.

_'Whoever's on the other side of that door is dead!'_ He thought as he ripped some sweats on over his boxer briefs. He was damn tempted to just answer the door in them and his T-shirt. If they were going to wake him up at two in the morning he might as well make it abundantly clear they woke him as well as awkward for them. But he decided against it.

"Grrr! Shut the hell up! I can hear you! I'm comin'!" He shouts again before he stalks to the other end of his apartment angrily and almost rips the door off it hedges when opening it. He had intended to throw a punch at his 'visitor' as soon as he opened the door, but his face flashes with recognition before his fist can make the strike. "N..Nausika? W-what the hell are you doing here?"

"You said you lived over hear and I asked around. You said you wanted to talk to me." She says plainly, casually even, not seeming to care that it's pitch dark at two in the morning and she's standing out in front of his door he's never shown her.

Shizuo blinks, dumbfounded, that surreal feeling he sometimes gets when he's around her filling his chest. He hadn't expected to see her in a while, assuming she'd be pissed that he bailed on her to go chase the flea. He honestly hadn't realized he had done it until he was several blocks away from Otome Road and came to an abrupt halt once he did. Shizuo had been tempted to keep chasing Izaya after that, now pissed off for a whole new reason as it was _his_ fault for ruining maybe his one chance to talk to Nausika and maybe even work up the courage to confess his feelings for her.

But now, she's here. And all he can think to say is, "Nausika, it's two in the morning." He tells her smoothly in a tone that reminds him subconsciously of how his parents used to talk to him about using his strength in public as a child.

"Oh wow, is it really that late?" She responds taking out her phone to confirm the time. She blinks, seeming curiously confused as to how the time got away from her and she hadn't noticed. He thinks he sees her cheeks darken a little in the dark. And if he wasn't still so confused he also thinks he'd find it cute. "I'm sorry. I didn't know it was that late. Insomnia. I'm gonna go." She tells him in a rush and quickly snaps away on her heels to escape.

"Hey wait," Shizuo says poking partially out of the door to catch her by the arm before she can go. "You ok? What's wrong?" He asks in concern.

"Nothing's wrong." She responds, her back still towards him.

But even Shizuo, who is not as adapt towards subtle hints and gestures, can tell that's a lie.

"Bullshit!" He shouts with his brows furrowed angrily. "The only two reason someone shows up at someone's house at two in the morning is something's wrong or they want sex!"

"Are you offering? Cause I could really go for a good tumble right now." She tells him over her shoulder, casual blank expression on her face while Shizuo flounders. He drops her hands, face reddening terribly, and rubs the back of his head with a stammer. Nausika chuckles and seems to take pity on him. "I'm sorry. That was crude. I'm much more used to dealing with men who act like frat boys, not like you." She tells him turning around and he thinks that's a compliment. There's a long pause where Nausika seems to be thinking and Shizuo, now calm, seems to be waiting. "You like me don't you." She says suddenly. It's not a question. It's a statement.

Shizuo's brow furrows again. "Yeah, of course I like you. I'm standing out here in the middle of the night talking to you. If I didn't you'd be half way across 'Bukuro now." He tells her with a faint smirk. He thinks the joke is funny, but she doesn't laugh.

"That's not what I mean. I mean you _really_ like me." She tells him seriously.

And Shizuo balks for a second before floundering again, but worse this time. "I…I mean…Yeah, I guess." He stammers. "I don't know. I've never…felt this way..about a girl before." Which is true, he has never felt this way about someone before. But he can't really explain what it is.

He's had crushes before, when he was younger and before he steeled himself from the hurtful daggers of others. There had been a girl in his primary class, another in middle school who had kissed him on a dare from her friends, the nice lady at the bakery that had felt sorry for him and given him milk. But none of them had felt like his.

Tom told him it was chemistry. Shinra had been stupid and told him it was love.

"Why? We're you previously gay?" Nausika asks casually in a manner he had grown accustom to, sort of, when she asked things she knew the answer to.

He growled and gave her a glare. "No! I've never felt this way about _anyone_! Everyone was always too scared of me! Or…I'm scared I'd hurt them." He confesses solemnly. This is also the true. Not only had he steeled himself away to not be hurt by others, he had also done it to keep himself from hurting them. It was self-sacrificial really. He wanted relationships. He really did. But…he couldn't be trusted with normal people so he stays away from them.

"But not me." The female blonde replies and the other blonde thinks he almost hears a little bit of 'let down' in her voice, but he can't be sure.

Shizuo shakes his head. "It's not that. I am. I've already broken your arm once. God knows what I'll do next." He tells her, rubbing the back of his head in exasperation this time.

But Nausika tilts her head curiously. "Why? You know that doesn't really pertain to me. You already know I can fix it. You can't really hurt me."

Shizuo growls angrily again before shouting, "That's not the point damnit!" The outburst startled her and he growls a little again through his teeth before simmering and continuing. "I don't care if you can't feel it, or can fix it, or if you can grow your whole damn arm back if it gets ripped from your body! I _don't _want to hurt you! That's it! That's the point! I couldn't….live with myself if I did." He confesses before leaning heavily against his door frame. As if the heavy burden of his strength is literally weighting on him.

Nausika, for her part, is genuinely surprised. He really is concerned for her. No one had ever been concerned for her. They didn't have to be. It wasn't hubris that she said this. It was just basic fact. She could have, should have died over a dozen times. And when life threatening injury is just a minor stumble for you, people stop worrying. And when you can take care of yourself on your own, people stop caring. And when you distance yourself from everyone and keep them well over arm's length away, people stop trying.

And just like that she's come to a decision.

It's a quick movement out of the corner of his eye that tells him she's coming more than the click of her boot heels. But still, it surprises him when she's suddenly in front of him with her arms around his chest and her head against his shoulder. "You're sweet." She tells him, her words mumble a little against his collar bone. Shizuo blinks but then smiles faintly and carefully wraps his arms around her in reprise. How long had it been since someone had been close to him like this? Hugged him? It felt really nice. "You're an idiot, but you're sweet."

Shizuo frowns as his sweet moment is shattered by her snarky words and pulls back to frown at her rather than over her head.

Nausika smiles slightly, recognizing his irritation but not seeming to care in the least. He knows that's what she was going for, the ruiner. "I'm tired now. Can I borrow your couch?" She asks and she does indeed look suddenly fatigued.

Shizuo sighs. He realizes that it's not like him to accept her quirks so easily, her snarky comments and abrupt topic changes among other things. He realizes that if someone else that would piss him off and send him flying. But with her, he just puts up with them.

"Yeah, sure." Her apartment isn't far from here, but it is late and he'd have to put on clothes to walk her. No way was he going to let her go back alone. He still doesn't get why she's here all of the sudden, but for now he drops it. "If you want you can use my futon. I can sleep on the couch." He tells her once she crosses the threshold into his apartment, rubbing his blonde locks again. He wants to be a good host and figures it's more considerate for a lady to get the bed.

"Or, just an idea, we could go with my plan and get this unbearable sexual tension between us out of the way." Nausika says with a smirk as she takes off her jacket and tosses it onto the vacant chair. The taller blonde snaps straight at the suggestion and face flames again.

"I uh….I don't think that's…I" Shizuo curses in his head as he stammers at the floor. For the life of him, no matter how much he berates himself or tells himself to stop, he can't get over his embarrassment when she says things like that. It's not his fault really. He's been told it's hard to deal with when you've had experience with women, which he doesn't.

The light, chime like laugh brings him back and he realizes that she's teasing him again. Shizuo hisses angrily through his teeth and wishes his pants came with pockets. "You shouldn't say things like that!" He scolds her while heading for is spare linen closet.

"Are you mad because I was using it _as_ a joke or because it _was_ a joke?" She asks from the living room and Shizuo growls as he pulls out a blanket and pillow.

"You just shouldn't say things like that to men!" He scolds her again when he gets back into the room, dodging the question.

"I don't say them to men. I say them to you." She tells him, teal eyes looking up at him from the couch as she takes the offered blanket carefully.

Shizuo balks for a second before he mutters in embarrassment, throwing the pillow at her head. Not hard, not even with a hint of his strength behind it, and Nausika laughs when it falls from her face. The other blonde smile softly at her, but she misses it when she sets up her pillow.

"You want a drink or something?" He asks when she turns back around.

"Water?" She replies while pulling the tie from her hair and shaking the yellow bundle free.

Shizuo nods and heads for his kitchen. He takes out two glasses and fills them from the tap.

He ponders silently what just happened in the past hour.

He got woken up at two in the morning by a woman he admits he has feelings for. A woman that he had admitted to that he had feelings for. That he admitted to having feelings for and she hadn't taken off screaming. That hadn't taken off screaming and was in fact currently on his couch. That was currently on his couch and planning on staying there for the rest of the night.

What did that mean?

We're they dating now? Seeing each other? Did that mean that she had feelings for him too? Or did she just accept that he had feelings for her and didn't want to hurt him by rejecting him just yet?

His mind goes over and over many other questions like these until it's brought to a stop by the feel of water running over his hand.

Shizuo curses quietly and pulls the glass out from under the water and shuts off the tap. He scowls at the glass, like it's its fault for overflowing, before dispensing half of the contents into the other glass and whipping his hands.

When he heads back into the living room, he assumes she'll be sitting there waiting for him. Waiting to talk or something he isn't sure. But she isn't. He blinks a few times as he looks over the couch back as she's fast asleep, curled up like a child with her arms under the pillow under her head.

Shizuo smirks a little and shakes his head.

He sets the cups down on the coffee table in front of the couch and picks up the blanket, unfolding it over her gently to not wake her.

He's about to grab his own cup and head back into his bedroom when he stops, seeing something. It's not a flash of light or movement or anything. It's just her face. But…it's not like it should be he thinks and he kneels down to get a closer look. Carefully, again to not wake her, he brushes stray hair out of her face behind her ear. He's surprised he could do it without waking her. Gentle really isn't his forte and he would have thought she was a light sleeper.

It's backwards. Her face he means. When people sleep, their faces get all relaxed and peaceful right? But, to Shizuo, it's like hers is the opposite. Asleep her face looks very tired, like she's mentally and physically exhausted, and almost sad looking.

Shizuo frowns sadly; realizing that the casual expressions and easy stance she takes with life is really a mask to hide behind. He sighs. He isn't mad about it, like one would think. Everyone had their masks.

But his chest clinches. He wonders what's made her so tired and so sad and realizes that it's probably something to do with that tricky thing called a past of hers that she refuses to talk about. Shizuo vows to never ask her about it again. He doesn't want to bring her any emotional pain either, knowing that that can hurt worse than broken bones and how deep those scars can cut. He feels bad for her, sorry even, when she looks like this. But he would never tell her that. He has the feeling that she doesn't respond well to anything remotely similar to pity and would probably kill him. Or at least try very seriously.

He smiles a little at the thought with an almost silent scoff. He's lost his mind. Or at least, that's what he thinks as he grabs his water and heads back to his bedroom quietly, turning off the lights as he goes.

He's letting a woman, who he barely knows and keeps secrets, sleep on his couch, doesn't even bother locking his bedroom door, and legitimately thinks that if she did try to kill him she'd give him a run for his money. And he's falling for her.

Yep, he's completely lost his mind.

* * *

_Thank you to gzillafan, flyfly246, Phantasm Princess,xKirixKurox, darkin520, and NinjaChipmunk for their reviews and feedback! Also big thanks to all those that faved and followed recently. Glad everyone is enjoying the story so far! Any new feedback is appreciated! :D_

_Again sorry for the viewing glitch._

_Thanks for reading!_


	13. Lucky 13

_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! nor it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._

_**A/N: Sorry about the chapter upload glitch last time. I'm still not sure what happened and am sorry if I spammed anyone's inbox trying to fix it myself before contacting the admins. Hopefully there won't be any problems this time. :) (optimistic)**  
_

* * *

Shizuo has a fairly standard morning work routine.

He gets up, takes a shower, shaves, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, pulls out and puts on his uniform, makes breakfast, and heads out to meet Tom.

So when his alarm clock goes off that morning he takes a shower, shaves, brushes his teeth, combs his hair, pull out and puts on his uniform. It isn't until he gets to putting on his bow tie that he remembers he isn't alone in his apartment this morning.

The thought that she had maybe seen him coming out of the bathroom in just his towel or when he had been getting dressed with the door open makes his face flush and he awkwardly coughs a little while clipping on his bow tie. He stands straight and proud despite his inner conflict when he exits his bedroom and looks around in surprise when his living room is completely bear.

The tall ex-bartender scratches the back of his head while surveying his apartment. _'Did I dream that up?'_ He thinks but a quick glance at the sofa and the blanket neatly folded on the arm with a spare pillow next to it suggests otherwise. He scowls sadly at it and growls in indignation. "Figures," He mutters as he stalks off towards his kitchen. _'She could have at least said goodbye.'_ Shizuo thinks bitterly, focusing more on being mad rather than sad like he always does. He doesn't want to think about the pain in his chest over being rejected…again. And he had really thought, let himself believe, that she had been different and maybe even liked him.

_'Stupid idiot, fooling yourself into thinking someone actually gave a damn about you. Pathetic…'_

Home alone, Shizuo doesn't even try to cover up his sad expression with an angry sneer. Nausika may hide behind aloofness and sarcasm. He hid behind his rage.

The sadness is brushed off his face though when he opens his fridge and finds a pink box that wasn't there before inside. Confused he pulls it out and stares at it like it's a Christmas present, or a bomb depending upon your opinion.

He knows this box. It's from the bakery a few blocks down. They have decorative cakes and pastries in their front window every day that Shizuo sometimes admires on his way to and/or from work. He rarely if ever goes in though. Despite his large sweet tooth, the sweets are almost too pretty to eat. That and, if he remembers correctly, they are very expensive.

Carefully he opens the lid as if something was going to pop out at him. It doesn't though. Instead four different breakfast pastries stare back at him; a berry dotted muffin, a flaky croissant, a fresh strawberry danish drizzled with white cream, and a circle of cinnamon sugar coffee cake. Like all the treats from the store, they look like they were taken right out of a magazine. But his attention is drawn suddenly instead from the perfect pastries to the yellow paper taped to the inside of the box.

He pulls it off and reads the contents of the note slowly.

_Shizuo:_

_Your door was close. I didn't want to wake you. I bought you breakfast. Didn't know what to get you but you said you liked sweets. Sorry I kinda broke back into your apartment to give them to you._

_-Nausika_

Shizuo is for once happy that he lives alone in his apartment because he's sure that he looks like an idiot grinning like that at a piece of paper. And also, for once, that the universe does oh so love to prove him wrong.

He folds up the note and puts it in his pocket before picking the danish and puts the rest in the box away.

Its sugary sweet, just the way he likes it. And taste just as good as it looks. The treat is devoured quickly and he downs a glass of milk after it before heading out for the day.

But another step is added to his morning routine. Out the door and on his way to Tom, Shizuo pulls out his phone and types a message to Nausika.

_:Thanks for breakfast. Hope slept ok. Next time just say bye. -Shizuo:_

* * *

Tom noticed that Shizuo's been distracted all day.

He's very good at noticing the subtle changes in his kohai when they happen, but he usually doesn't say much about it. Shizuo gets flustered and antsy when he's called out on it. So normally Tom just lets him be to sort it out and listens if he's willing to share. Today though, Tom just has to ask, "Hey, you ok man? You seem kind of distracted about something."

The taller blonde looks up with a 'hn?' and Tom smile warmly. "There, like that. Distracted."

"Oh…sorry Tom." The bodyguard apologies and rubs the nape of his neck.

"So what's up buddy? You wanna tell me what's goin' on or do I have to guess?" Tom asks jokingly.

Shizuo mumbles for a second and scratches the back of his head. "It's nothing…"

But Tom just smiles. "Well, it's obviously something. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was some girl that's got you all twisted." He older man had meant it as a joke, but when Shizuo goes ridged at the claim he's genuinely surprised that he's hit the nail on the head. "Whoa! Hey, is it that one girl you were telling me about?"

Tom distinctly remembers Shizuo mentioning a girl about a week ago, whose name sounded weird but he couldn't remember clearly, and that he had talked to her a few times. He remembered because Shizuo had never mentioned a girl before or one that he had talked to and/or possibly had an interest in.

"Yeah, Nausika, she came over to my place last night." The blonde mutters, adjusting his shades, before he notices Tom's inquisitive smirk and eyebrow arch. "No! Not like that! It wasn't like that!"

"Hey, I didn't say anything!" Tom recovers quickly with his hands raised as not to incur the other man's non-existent wrath. "So, is she your girlfriend now? Did you take my advice and tell her she's pretty?"

"No." Shizuo mutters, rubbing the back of his neck again before confessing. "And…I don't know…"

"You don't know?" Tom asks, eye brow again raised.

"Yeah…I mean…she came over at like two. She asked if I liked her, you know that way, and I told her yes. I also kind of told her why…it was a bad idea. She told me I was sweet but an idiot. Then she wanted to sleep on my couch. Then this morning she was gone, but she bought me breakfast from the bakery down the street." The blonde man told him, seeking his sempai's guidance. He's been thinking about it all day, playing the events and every detail over and over in his mind as if looking for some clue or secret insight.

For Tom though, it doesn't take that long. "Dude, I think that means your dating." He tells him seriously.

"Really?" Shizuo asks in awe struck surprise and Tom chuckles a little. When he gets like that he reminds him so much of the first time he had met him in middle school he can't help it.

"I mean, I would double check for sure, but yeah. The last chick who spent the night at my house and got me breakfast was one I was dating. But then again, we were doing other things too." The older man says cheekily, enjoying how the other floundered quietly for a second. It never ceased to amaze him how childlike Shizuo could be. How he could get excited over simple things, or embarrassed over 'adult' subjects sometimes, or how kind hearted he really was. That's why it upset him so much at times that people judged him as this untamed monster. If people just got to know him, they'd see he was a much better person than most 'normal' people. He hoped this girl could see it too.

"Hey, isn't that him?" Shizuo asks suddenly bring Tom back to the present.

"Yep, that's definitely him. Wanna hang back for a minute while I talk to him?" He asks and the blonde nods before he saunters off towards their client.

Shizuo watches him leave for a moment before dropping his shoulders and slipping into a casual lean while he ponders. Maybe Tom was right? Maybe he should just ask her if they were dating or not, or if she wanted to be dating? What's the worst that could happen?

_'She could say no and drop kick you in the heart, that's what could happen.'_ That little pessimistic voice inside him reminds him. And the thought of her, especially her, rejecting him makes him feel ill. _'Or, you know, she could say yes.'_ That optimistic voice, that oddly sounds like the voice he pictures when he reads Celty's messages, tells him. And the though makes his stomach flip again, in a better, but still uncomfortable way.

Finally, irritated with the back and forth, he growls a little and pulls out his phone.

_:Hey, you wanna get some coffee? I'm almost of work here.:_ He types out and hits send quickly before he can second guess it.

He's a little surprised when his phone beeps back rather quickly with a message that reads, _:It's a little late for coffee, don't ca' think. ;P: _And he can just picture her laughing snarkily at her phone and he can't think to frown or smile at that. Then his phone beeps again._ :Where's here?:_

_:East side by some dive bars and karaoke dins:_ He tells her, settling on a small smile.

_:Cool. Want me to meet you there? I don't think I'm far from there:_ She replies.

_:Sure.:_ He shoots back and his smile gets a little wider. Proud of himself and more than a little optimistic that she said yes.

"Shizuo!" The blonde raises his head with a 'hn?' just in time for the would-be escape artist to plow past him. It doesn't knock Shizuo down like it would a normal person. For Shizuo, he just sees red.

"Son of a bitch! Get back HERE!" He roars and takes off after the man.

It takes a block or two for Shizuo to start gaining on him. The man is one of a few people remotely close to him in height and the bodyguard guesses he's on drugs considering how thin, how twitchy, and how fast he is. But still, wired and on the loose, he can't out run Shizuo forever. And when he catches him, the guy is toast!

The guy dashes across a busy street, narrowly missing cars before hopping the guard rail to get away. Shizuo is right after him, but isn't so lucky. One car going one way cuts him off before he can get across the street and another blares it's horn as it's coming the other and closer by the second.

_'Aw damn!'_ Shizuo thinks and attempts to brace himself for impact when a hard shove pushes him out of the way. He stumbles forward and blinks dumbfounded before the loud screech and then awful thud sound of a car hitting someone brings him back to reality.

"Oh my God! Somebody help that poor girl!"

"Did you see that?! She flew back like 20 feet!"

"Is she dead? I don't think she's getting up…."

The crowd chatters around him and Shizuo snaps straight, turning around quickly and eyes widening in shock as they zero in on a ragdoll like form in a yellow biker jacket.

"Nausika!" He shouts and dashes over to her.

Relief washes over him as he sees she's slowly getting back up, even though it's seems to be a slight struggle, but still panics when he reaches her. "No, no! Don't move! There should be an ambulance on the way! Don't move!" He tells her frantically, hoping that someone called one for her when they never bothered to do it for him, as he puts his hand gentle on her shoulders to usher her back down.

She looks much more beat up to hell than he ever did though. She had to have rolled most of the way on the concrete to where she eventually landed. She's covered in dirty from the street, her palms and tops of her hand are all road-rashed over and so is the side of her face. He's pretty sure some of her limbs look a little funny in the way they landed too. But she doesn't seem to notice.

"No, I'm ok. Really I'm fine." She tells him, sitting up on one palm on an arm he's sure looks broken and her head cradled in the other like she's suffering from a headache.

"Like hell you are! Look at you! Why the hell would you do that?!" He shouts at her, angry that she's taking this so casually. She got hit by a car for Christ sakes!

"Because it was going to hit you stupid." She tells him and Shizuo's expression turns shocked again as she look at him with that _'you're-an-idiot'_ expression. Then she winces and he flinches back to concerned. "Can you help get me out of here please? I can't feel my leg yet and I really don't want to be on the evening news." She adds, voice wavering nervously as her eyes dart around before settling back on him.

Shizuo balks for a second as he sees the blackness around her eye disappearing and then the giant scrape on the side of her face receding. He hears a small crack that he's come to associate with bones re-setting. And he calms for a moment when he realizes she's healing.

"Miss, are you ok?! I'm so sorry! I didn't see you! I-"Don't fucking touch her!" Shizuo barks at the driver angrily and he retract his hand like a dog was about to bite him.

The blonde continues to seethe at him with a murderous stare that almost makes him piss himself when a hand falls on his shoulder and all his attention is brought back towards the injured blonde pleading with him silently to take her away.

Shizuo calms instantly and snaps into action. The move of him getting to his feet with her in his arms is effortless despite her height making it awkward for her to be cared along with her injuries. Nausika protests momentarily, even though she clings to him in surprise of the sudden move, but he ignores her. Once he is up he's sprinting away like he's been lit on fire, oblivious to everyone including Tom who's calling after him.

* * *

"Hmmm…pupil response seems normal. No apparent concussion from your fall. Your injuries are pretty much gone minus some light bruising, but from what you and Shizuo told me that should clear up here shortly. No internal injuries I can see currently, but to prove that we would need to do a full work up if you're interested-Ah Celty not my kidneys!" Shinra exclaims, his examination being cut off abruptly by the swift jab of the shadowy fairie.

_:Stop trying to cut people up like your dad!:_ She type-shouts at him before typing again on her PDA calmly. _:Are you really ok?:_ She asks Nausika who nods and grabs her shirt lying next to her.

"Yeah, I'm really fine. I've been hit by a car before. Truck does much more damage." Nausika replies while putting the black top over her head.

"Oh wow! Really?! I mean, yeah given their size it makes sense. But you really got up and walked away from being hit by a truck?! That's incredi-Ow! Celty! My precious kidneys!" Shinra cries again and doubles over in pain.

_:I'm glad you weren't injured too severely:_

"Thanks. And, thanks for seeing me again on such short notice." The blonde tells him.

"Not at all! I'm just happy I was here and not on a call so I could be there to help." Shinra tells her with a smile while adjusting his glasses.

Nausika returns his broad smile softly, until her face breaks out in surprise at the loud groan emanating from her abdomen.

_:Are you hungry? Shizuo told me the last time that you needed to eat after extensive healing.:_

"Oh wow really?! That's really fascinating! So it's based off of human energy and not supernatural abilities like Celty! Truly amazing!" The young doctor beams thoughtfully.

"Thanks…." Nausika replies, still unsure how to address his enthusiasm.

"If you want we could get you something to eat. Or maybe even Celty could make something for you! She's an amazing cook! I keep telling her that but she won't believe me!" Shinra says and gets a sharp, but light punch in the shoulder. Celty's smoke flaring at the compliment.

Nausika smirks. "Thanks, but…I'd clean you out of house and home."

"Nonsense! We so rarely have guests over it would be a real treat for us."

"Well…then maybe I could cook instead then? Since I'm being a bother and if it's not a problem." The blonde offers sheepishly. She's not used to being friendly with people, or at least friendly with people who want to be friendly with her.

"That would be great! Did you hear that Celty? Nausika-chan is going to cook for all of us!" Shinra exclaims seeming to ignore the fact that Celty doesn't eat in his excitement.

_:That's very generous of you:_ Celty tells her but Nausika smirks again broadly.

"Don't think you'll be saying that here in a little bit. Ask Shizuo, the last time wasn't pretty."

"Hey where is Shizuo by the way?" The brunette asks, fidgeting with his glasses again, and glancing around for the blonde male.

_:He's out on the terrace. I think he smoking.:_ Celty informs him.

"That party pooper! Two beautiful women here and he chooses to mope on the balcony, what a shame!" Shinra exclaims dramatically. And if Celty had a head she'd be shaking it along with Nausika. "Celty, can you show Nausika-chan where everything is while I go see to him." The dullahan makes a gesture similar to a head nod and shows the other woman to the kitchen while Shinra heads for the terrace.

* * *

"Hey, Shizuo, Nausika-chan is going to cook for all of us! Isn't that exciting?!" Shinra exclaims once he's through the glass door but instantly still upon seeing the other man. "Hey, what are you doing out here? You feeling ok?" The young doctor asks coming up next to his longtime friend.

"Yeah, said you didn't like it when I smoke in the house." Shizuo tells him, not taking his eyes off the skyline.

"Well, yeah, but it looks like you haven't been smoking out here for quite some time." Shinra tells him, motioning to the completely burnt out cigarette in the other man's hand. The ashes of a once full smoke, started but never completed, leading down to the singed filter.

Shizuo curses quietly, seeming to just realize he had both wasted the smoke and also singed his hand a little.

"So how come you're hiding out here?" The young doctor asks curiously and is rewarded with a sneer and glare.

"I'm not hiding!" The blonde snaps before calming quickly and fidgeting with his shades before looking off into the darkened city. "It's just that…first her arm, then the table, now this. Maybe it's just best if I stay away from normal people." He tells the other man in sad nostalgia.

"Well, not to state the obvious or be cold, but Nausika-kun isn't really normal." Shinra reminds carefully.

But the taller man isn't swayed. "That's not the point. What if I hurt her real bad next time?" Shizuo questions, leaning back against the railing. Nausika had said that it had limitations. And if there was one thing Shizuo was good at, besides throwing things eight times is size, it was sprinting past limitations. What if next time he really hurt her and she couldn't fix it? If she was permanently scared or broken for it? If she hated him for it….?

"You really love her, don't you Shizuo?" Shinra asks suddenly and the blonde balks in surprise then embarrassment.

"Don't…don't be stupid!" Shizuo snaps. How could you love someone you've only known for a few days? Yeah, he liked her a lot, but he was just worried about his strength and her safety.

But Shinra just smiles wider. "It's ok. I don't think anyone else knows yet. I know because I went through the same thing with Celty. It was quite a shock waking up one day and realizing I was in love with the woman I had spent most of my life with." He tells him and leans next to him on the railing as well. "But that's the things Shizuo, it could take a life time or a second, but when you fall in love the only thing left to do is tell the other person. It's not fair to them to keep this all to yourself."

"What if she doesn't…?" The blonde mutters finally after a long moment. But Shinra just keeps smiling.

"I doubt that. Nausika doesn't seem like the type of girl to go looking for friends or company. She seems more like the type that would like quality over quantity. She also seems to genuinely care about you. I mean she threw herself in front of a car to save you. If that's not love, I don't know what is." Shirna said with a crescent eyed smile at his longtime friend.

Shizuo looked at him for a moment before muttering, "You're an idiot, Shinra," despite his own small smirk.

"Hey! You hens done cluckin' yet?" A sharp voice asks from the sliding glass window and both men look at the other blonde in the doorway. "Come in here and tell me what you want to eat." Nausika tells them.

"Oh, I'm sure anything you would make is fine Nausika-chan!" Shinra cries, back to his normal energetic self.

"Don't respond to that Shinra! And don't ask people questions like that!" Shizuo scolds the two of them, but with little affect. Shinra still beams. And Nausika just looks at him with an arched brow.

"Rude. Just for that: I'm gonna make dessert and you can't have any." She tells him and Shizuo balks sadly at it before bristling.

"What?! You can't do that! That's not fair!" Shizuo shouts back, following the other blonde back into the house with rebuttals of 'life isn't fair' and 'don't argue with the person making your food'.

Shinra smiles warmly at them from the other side of the glass. He was so happy that his and Celty's relationship was so much less dysfunctional than theirs seemed to be. And only Shinra would think that living with a headless fairie was completely normal.

* * *

Dinner goes by fairly well. Shinra carries most of the conversation with Nausika interjecting with sharp, witty comments and Celty's typing. Shizuo mostly stays quite, eating his stir-fry slowly in thought.

When they're gone, Nausika and Shizuo say their goodbyes and Shizuo offers to walk her home. Well, they more start walking in the direction of her home together. Shinra's is in the middle between their houses. One way goes his way. The other goes her way.

The trip to her apartment is silent. Shizuo's hands her stuffed deep in his pockets with his typical hunch in his shoulders as his eyes are trained on the ground. Nausika doesn't seem to mind the silence. Or if she does she doesn't say anything.

When they get in front of her light blue door, Nausika asks if he wants a drink or something as way of inviting him in. He doesn't respond to the question, but follows her in anyway.

"God, I'm exhausted! And kinda sore." Nausika comments, once her jacket and shoes are off, before cracking her back and neck a few times. "Hey, I never got my coffee by the way. Wanna make me some so I can stay up and get sore in a good way?" She asks cheekily. But the joke doesn't have the desired affect though.

Shizuo still looks sullen and quickly closes in on her, enveloping her in a hug. "Don't ever do that again." He says, almost in a whisper, by her ear once his arms are around her and squeezing gently.

"Do what? Make funny, inappropriate sexual humor jokes? Was it really that bad?" Nausika asks, standing there kind of limply in confusion of his behavior and way she's being hugged all of the sudden.

"No! Not that, you know what I mean. The car. Do ever do that again ok?" He tells her and squeezes a little tighter at the memory of her beat up in the street.

The other blonde sighs lightly and smiles a little sadly for him. "Shizuo I'm really fine. It really didn't hurt that bad." She assures. He really wasn't getting it when she told him it took a lot to really hurt her.

Shizuo growls slightly by her ear. "I don't care! Promise me you'll never do that again! Just let the damn thing hit me alright!" He snaps angrily. Nausika frowns.

"Why? I have a better chance of bouncing back than you do. And who are you to tell me what to do anyway?!"

"The guy who loves you and doesn't want to see your brains cracked open on the sidewalk you idiot!" He shouts angrily but then freezes like the other blonde after realizing what he's said.

"So…you love me hn?" Nausika asks blankly, seeming to calm much faster than he does.

"I uh…yeah, I guess I do." He tells her, releasing her and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. So, it was out there now. Now he had to wait for the hammer to fall.

"Why?" She asks oddly in confusion. And Shizuo growls angrily again.

"I don't know why! Apparently I just do Goddamnit!" He snaps again. He's not sure when or how, but he knows it's the truth and he just realized it. Stupid Shinra just _had_ to be right.

"But…why? I'm mean and snarky. I'm emotionally stunted. I'm horrible with normal social interactions. I have more baggage than LAX. And you haven't even known me that long." She wants to say at all, but feels that that isn't exactly true. He probably knows more about her, the _real_ her, than anyone other than Chidori and a handful of people have known about her her entire life. She suddenly finds that very threatening and suffocating.

"What's LAX?" The ex-bartender asks curiously, head even tilted to the side.

"It's an airport in the States. It's one of the biggest in the world*." She clarifies off handed, still internally reeling.

"Oh ok. I get it now." Shizuo says and scratches his head. "As for the rest, I…guess that doesn't really matter that much to me anymore." He can't explain it, but it really doesn't anymore. He thinks Celty explained it best when he asked her once how she could love a guy like Shinra and she told him _'I guess when you love someone; the bad/annoying stuff about them really isn't that bad anymore.' _And when he had asked Shinra how he could love Celty without knowing her past or what she was he told him, _'It doesn't matter to me. The future is what's important.'_

After a long, tense moment Nausika's voice finally cracks out a quiet "Ok…" And despite its soft sound it still gets Shizuo's attention.

"Ok?" He asks in confusion, not sure what that means.

"Ok." She says again and looks up at him with an almost timid expression, but also one of resolve as she nods with an awkward smile.

Shizuo releases a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding and pulls her toward his chest again. "Ok." He repeats not sure what he's feeling right now, elated perhaps, and smiles next to her ear again.

This time, Nausika's arms circle around his waist and share the embrace with him. She thinks, briefly, that she should tell him but decides against it. This is her chance at a fresh start, a true new honest to God life, where she could be Nausika again. She's worried she's forgotten how. But she's willing, and for the first time excited, to try. With Shizuo.

* * *

_Long chapter is **long**! But I wanted to get here so badly._

_Thanks to flyfly246, gzillafan, NinjaChipmunk, xKirixKurox, and ShikaTachidoriKitsuneHebiTak a for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Reviews and opinions are still and always greatly appreciated! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated as always! And, by the way, I have made a decision on rating changes. :3_


	14. The Slasher

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

_A/N: Rating change is happening next time! Be prepared!_

_Also__ drabble series set will be up next week with extra content that had to be skipped over (like the first kiss everyone was asking about and other scenes :3)_

* * *

If someone had told Nausika a year ago that she'd be walking down the street in Ikebukuro, carrying take out from her job, to see her boyfriend she would have told them they were crazy.

But here she was.

Domesticate, living a normal relatively boring life with an apartment, a nice normal job working as a waitress at Russia Sushi, friends, relationship, and she couldn't be happier about it. That had surprised her more than anything. That she could be happy again and could be happy with this life. But it had been six months and that feeling hadn't changed.

It was almost a complete coincidence how everything had fallen into place.

Shizuo's confession and their subsequent dating had been the result of a traffic collision that the chance of happening was 1 in a 1,000.

She had got her job because of them dating and her subsequently meeting Tom. Tom, finding her completely irresistible as a person and finding it equally irresistible to tease and make his kohai uncomfortable, would often invite her along for their lunch now and then in secret just to make Shizuo squirm. Shizuo had told her more than once that he regretted giving her Tom's phone number. He had said it had been for emergencies, not for them to make his life hell. But they had been at lunch at Russia Sushi when Tom casually asked how her job hunt was going and when she had answered with a mopping 'not well' Simon had suddenly appear with a booming, "I know! Nasika*-chan can come work at Russia Sushi!"

She had tried to tell him that she had no experience waitressing, but Simon told her, "Nonsense, nonsense! You learn! Learn new skill for life and make people happy!" Dennis had given her the once over and, after some conversing with Simon in thick Russian, signed off on it too. And, just like that, she had a job working at Russia Sushi.

Nausika never knew and never asked what they had said then. But somehow she knew by the way they were looking at her and Dennis's comment of, "Sure. Everyone needs a chance at a fresh start," that they knew more than they let on. And if they did, she found that unsettling. But if they really did, she was extremely grateful they said nothing about it.

And, despite a few hiccups when she first started, she was actually pretty good at it and happy to be working there. People seemed to like here there too. She even had some regulars.

Tom and Shizuo of course, but also Shinra and Celty who stopped by now and then. Kyohei, Shizuo friend from high school, and his band of misfits who chatted with her about manga and anime and were convinced that she would make a super awesome crime fighter like in their novels with the way she handled the drunks from the bar and another incident several months back. '_Pull one guy into an arm lock and drop kick another simultaneously and suddenly you're a superhero.'_ She thinks with a laugh at the thought of their starry eyed faces. It probably didn't help that she had streaked her hair back again, but electric blue this time. But, I digress. She had also met the boy from that night at the Dollars meet up. The one in the middle of it all, Mikado Ryūgamine. No one had seemed to notice but her, so she let it slide. Let the kid fade back into the normal folds while he could. Maybe he could be normal with that loud blonde kid who liked to stare at her breasts or that quiet girl who always seemed on his left. She didn't like that girl for some reason. It wasn't anything she did or said. But something about her made Nausika's skin itch. She didn't like it.

Before a frown could cross her face at the thought, her phone vibrates and jingles to the notice of a text message. The blonde flips open her phone and smiles a little at the screen.

_:Hey, you off yet?:_ The screen reads with Shizuo's name in bold at the top.

She resists the urge to text him back something snarky about him being clingy, but he still hadn't caught on to the subtle language of text message sarcasm. He had seen her this morning before they left for work. How much could he possibly miss her?

But she's realized that Shizuo is very much like a puppy. He's very excitable, in both good and bad ways, eager to please, very affectionate, adorable, and likes his head scratched. But Nausika knows better than to tell him that. He wouldn't like it even though it's true. He probably doesn't even realize half the things he does that are incredibly sweet and take her by surprise. Like how he keeps juice boxes in his fridge just for her, or how he brings her favorite sour candies that she knows for him to get them are out of the way no matter what he says, or that he made her a drawer in his dresser because he found some of her things, washed them, and put them away there.

That last one had been actually very practical and replicated at her house. They were at one or the other's house almost every night and you could only do 'the walk of shame' so often before you were _sure_ the neighbors were talking.

But let the old ladies and forty something mothers gossip with their friends and each other. They probably wouldn't believe them anyway if they told them that when they slept together they really just slept.

Despite going strong for six months now, Shizuo and Nausika's relationship hadn't progressed further than second base.

But even though she enjoyed the kissing and the cuddling and heated make up sessions with heavy petting she was rather looking forward to hitting a home run here hopefully soon in the near future. She almost thought it was kind of funny how their gender roles had been reversed in that aspect.

The current waitress had never asked but she assumed that along with him never having a girlfriend before her he had also never had sex. And though she wasn't batting a thousand or anything, she had had physical relationships before with two or three people. She knew enough to be experienced enough to know what to do and how to do it properly. Of course the internet helped with that more than anything.

She also knew that he did want her that way. He had some pretty 'hard' evidence towards that when they made out on the bed or on the couch but was probably too nervous breach the subject.

Nausika also guessed that one of the reasons Shizuo hadn't pursued that aspect of their relationship was not only out of nervousness but also out of fear. She could guess that he was afraid that if they ever did do it he would hurt her or break something with his immense strength and lack of control.

There had been one time she remembers quiet clearly. The look of terror on his face when it might have almost happened but he squeezed her maybe a little too tight to his chest whlie necking and her back had cracked like rice crispies. She had tried to tell him that it was just a normal back cracking, that he hadn't broken anything or hurt her and was normal, but he wouldn't listen. He flinched away from her like a scared rabbit when she tried to touch him, paralyzed with fear on the edge of the bed. So instead she had just put her shirt back on, left her pants on the floor with her panties still in place, and laid down on what was now her side of his bed. Eventually he calmed down and slid up behind her, ridge and with drawn with a mumbled "I'm sorry" near her ear. Nausika had just smiled sadly towards the window, reached behind her, pulled his arm across her so he could hold her properly, and told him "For what?"

And he had curled up closer to her and kissed her hair and, squeezing her hand tightly before falling asleep beside her.

Before she drifted off into the land of dreams though, she remembers hearing a sleepy muttered "I love you" that made her heart clench before she found sleep.

Her heart clenched mostly because even though he's said it she hasn't yet.

Shizuo doesn't seem to mind though. Or if he does he hasn't said anything to her. She had told him, felt the need to address it, that she did care for him a lot, much more than anyone before. But…she wasn't ready to say the words yet. She's sure she does, love him that is. She knows what love feels like. She loved her sister, though not in the same way by any means. But she knew what it was like to want to make them smile, to be there for them, to be by their side through the good and the bad and especially the bad so you could make it good for them. But she felt like if she said them then she'd be exposed to a level she was more than uncomfortable with.

Shizuo had told her that it was ok. He said he would rather her say it and mean it than say it just to say it. She had almost said it then, but chickened out at the last second with an "I like your face." Nausika flinched at that one. Not one of her more graceful moments by any means.

She thinks briefly that she should just treat it like a cold pool and jump in quickly before she has a chance to think about it. _'Yeah, that's it. "Hey Shizuo, did you have a nice day? I got some extra sushi Dennis made. I love you" or may I should just say it when he opens the door. Spontaneous blurt of a confession. God! I can't believe I'm spazing about this! Out of all the things that have happened in my life **this** is what scares the hell out of me? I'm pathetic.'_

The loud metallic rustle of a tin can rolling across the ground in an alley catches Nausika's attention. She stops and looks down the darkened corridor for signs of movement, not stupid enough to go down there or call out like people in those horror movies did.

Seeing nothing, she mentally shrugs a little and turns back around to continue her journey, but is startled by an odd looking girl with disheveled black hair and crazy wide eyes suddenly blocking her path.

"Hey, are you ok? You need some help." Nausika asks carefully. She may not be good with people, but she isn't cold hearted enough to just ignore someone who obviously looks in need. Given her appearance, Nausika is worried she's been attacked or raped. The girl, in her teens and about chest height to the blonde, looks like she's in a shock like state despite her smile.

"You, you're Shizuo-kun's aren't you." The strange girl asks suddenly, an odd creepy pitch in her voice. And Nausika steps back, startled.

"And who the hell are you?" The older woman asks with a slight glare.

She's concerned that this girl is someone looking for recompense for Shizuo's work dealings. It had happened a few times when they first started dating. People, mostly men, angry that Shizuo had pummeled their or someone they knew's asses into the ground thought it would be a good idea to take it out on her. This idea was short lived however when word got around that if you messed with the blonde at Russia Sushi you'd get your ass, and teeth, handed to you. And on top of that, if Shizuo found out he would find you. And no force in the universe would stop him from grinding you into dust on the ground.

But this is just a girl. What could she possibly want from Nausika in the middle of the night?

The girl doesn't seem to notice the late hour or the weird setting or even the apprehension in Nausika's stare. She just beams in an eerie sort of way that makes Nausika's skin crawl.

"We love Shizuo-kun!" The brunette cries. "We love him, we all do! So strong, so strong, our Shizuo-kun! But we aren't happy you stole his love from us! I've come to fix the problem. I came special 'cause your special." The red eyed girl lunges suddenly with a knife but Nausika dodges quickly, dropping her bag. She side steps the girl's wild attacks and is finally able to see an opening where she strike. Her leg shoots up in a swift, powerful kick right into the girl's chin. The girl cries and falls back on the ground. Nausika sighs. _'Crazy girl…' _ She thinks, assuming that's the end of it, and going to pick up her dropped bag. But she's surprised when the girl gets up on her hands and knees and is laughing manically.

"You're strong too! Saika loves strong people. You should be one of us. Then we can all share Shizuo-kun together!"

The girl is suddenly up, much faster than Nausika anticipated. She swings her blade wildly and when Nausika tries to dodge another time the blade slice through her back carelessly. Without her jacket, it cuts through the black shirt she wears to work easily. Nausika screams and she falls to the ground, but recovers quickly. She's kneeling on the ground in front of the crazed girl. The scrape on his cheek from her fall heals instantly. The girl seems curiously surprised.

"Oh my, you are strong. Strong enough to not be one of us." The girl says before her face contorts angrily and points the knife tip at her. "If you won't be one of us, you're one of them! And thems can't live if they are as strong as you!" She yells and slices at her again. Nausika shifts back to evade the strike and lunges with her shoulder in the girl's chest before breaking past her and running away. She hasn't run from a fight since she was twelve. But something wasn't right about her. Something wasn't right about her at all. Something…something wasn't right at all.

* * *

"Coming, coming…" Shinra drones as he heads for the door. He's surprised by the pounding on his door at such a late hour and assumes that it's one of the reps from Yargiti or some yakuza needing a stitch. But he's even more surprised when he sees who it really is. "Oh, Nausika, what's going on? Is Shizuo ok?" He assumes by the late hour and worry on her face that something must have happened to Shizuo. But the blonde shakes her head quickly before looking at him again.

"He's fine. It's me. I need your help." She says in what he thinks is border line panic.

"You? What could you possibly need my help with…" Shinra asks jovial but it's whipped away quickly when she flips around and pulls up her shirt, exposing her wounded back at him.

"It's been like this for an hour! It won't go away!" Nausika says, in what he's sure is full blown panic now, while look over her shoulder at him. "It won't close! Shinra help me!"

"Ok, ok! Calm down. This doesn't look that bad." The young doctor assure her and takes hold of her hands, helping her pull her shirt back down, and leading her into his apartment. "It looks like it needs cleaned up more than anything. Tell me what happened."

* * *

While Shinra fixes her up, Nausika tells him what happens. Celty, alerted by the commotion at the door and joining them, types out that it was probably the Slasher. To which Shinra solemnly agrees.

He tells Nausika that the Slasher carries a possessed blade named Saika and that, given its mystical properties; her body may not be able to heal to it like it normally would a wound. Shinra does try hard to assure her that it will heal on its own, like other attack victims, but it would takes some time at a normal human rate.

_:Are you ok? This isn't like you. You seem shaken up.:_ Celty asks when she and Nausika are alone. The blonde shrugs a little, still topless on the examine table, looking at the tile on the floor like they hold some kind of mystery.

"I don't know I'm just…." She starts but stops for a second as if she's trying to collect her thoughts. "It's easy to be brave and aloof about danger when nothing can hurt you. But that blade…if I hadn't moved in that last second or if they had aimed for my neck I could've…." Nausika's fingers grip the sides of the table to the point that her knuckles turn white. She's never been certain, never been sure, but the only way she's sure she could die would be if she ran out of energy at a critical moment and her healing couldn't work or if her head was chopped off. It's the one thing she's truly afraid of, being decapitated and dying.

"Hey Celty, you back here?" The rough, unmistakable sound of Shizuo's voice filters throughout the apartment and Nausika startles before hastily pulling her shirt on. She doesn't want him to see her like this. Worried about what he would do if he found her injured and weak. Her shirt is back on and in place just as he enters the door way. "Hey, so this is where you've been hiding? I've been trying to call you. Simon said you left hours ago." The blonde male asks, in regular clothing instead of his trademark bartender outfit, with a smile.

"Oh yeah, that, I..." Nausika flounders, trying to come up with a lie. She doesn't want him to know she was attacked. He's with her because she's strong and can't be beat. What would he think of her if he found out she had been defenseless against a crazy girl with a knife?

Before she can worry about it anymore, Celty is suddenly typing. _:That was my fault. I ran into Nausika on the street and dragged her along with me to look for the Slasher.:_

"The Slasher? You went lookin' for that freak again?" Shizuo asks with a frown.

_:Yeah, no luck though.:_

"Hmph, good! That bastard is mine to kill! So if you see him again, call me and I'll kill 'im dead!" The blonde announces proudly, before focusing back in on the other blonde in the room. "Hey, you ok? You look beat." He asks curiously, noticing something is off about her.

Nausika snaps out of her daze and forces up a convincing smile at him. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a long day." She says off-handedly, rubbing the back of her neck in a mocked soothing gesture.

And Shizuo accepts the lie with another smile and tells her. "Hm, well, I'm pretty tired too. Had a long list today with Tom. Come on, I'm starving." He tells her and holds out his hand for her to help her get down off the table before sliding the arm around her shoulders as the head out the door.

Before they leave though, Nausika looks back over her shoulder at Celty and mouths to her 'thank you.' To which the dullahan nods her shapeless head in reply.

* * *

_Thanks to flyfly246, gzillafan, SirenaRLoganK, NinjaChipmunk , ChRiStMaS 310, indescribable music, , and guests for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Reviews and opinions are still and always greatly appreciated! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! 3_

_*I didn't miss spell Nausika's name. This is how Simon say it. With his accent it sounds like "Na-si-ka"._


	15. Announcement

_So remember that one time I said I was going to make a drabble spin-off series. Yeah, it's up now..._

_****__'Supernatural Serendipity Side Stories' is now live!_

_****__[Tried to be helpful and put in the link but won't let me...]_


	16. Don't ask stupid questions

_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! nor it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._

**_A/N: Dear esteemed readers: You will notice that the rating has officially changed in this story. This chapter is the reason why. I have placed a page break between the adult bits and the rest of the story, so if you would like to skip it feel free._**

**_Also, just for reference, my definition of the bases is: 1st-kissing/all your clothes on, 2nd-top half, clothes off, 3rd-bottom half, clothes off, Home- ;). Just so we're all clear._**

* * *

She tries to act normal. As if nothing has happened in the past several hours that's changed her outlook on life.

But in her head she keeps thinking.

_Slasher…Saika….A knife that can cut me….Saika….Chidori…Vitalia …._

"Hey, you ok?" Shizuo's voice snaps her out of her daze and she looks up at him from her place under his arm on the couch. "You've been staring off into space since the commercial break?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just more tired than I thought I guess." Nausika assure him while rubbing her temples and corners of her eyes. She doesn't want to lie to him. But she doesn't want to tell him what happened either. He had explained that that thing had attacked Celty a few months back when she asked over dinner why he had been so upset. Lord knows what he'd do if he found out it attacked her too.

_'Or what he would think of me if he found out I'm not as invincible as he thought…'_

Shizuo is ignorant to this though. He just smiles down at her affectionately before he pulls his other arm down from the couch back and flips off the TV.

"So let's turn in early. Nothin' on anyway and just because we have tomorrow off doesn't mean we have to stay up late." He tells her and is already up off the couch with his hand out to help her up too before she can answer.

Nausika smiles a little bit before taking it and follows when he leads her back to his bedroom like normal. She doesn't want to alert him to something being wrong.

And to be fair she wants to go. To help her forget about the stress of the day and reeling of her mind, have it all washed away when he kisses her and holds her in his arms. She just wants everything to go away.

So when he pulls her to him after closing the door, back to his chest as he kisses her shoulder and her neck softly, she accepts it. The blue highlighted blonde turns around in his arms, draping her own around his neck, and kisses him deeply. They kiss over and over again. And she can start to feel the stress ebb and flow out of her. Shizuo's hands slide up the curve of her waist to her ribs, the material of her shirt coming them. Celty had fixed the black material with her shadows, so no one would be the wiser.

The shirt falls from Shizuo's grasp to the floor and he instantly goes back to kissing her once it's over her head. He presses into her, guiding her blindly back towards the bed in a practiced dance, but snaps away when she cries out after her back hits the mattress.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Shizuo asks in concern, but her face that looks more worried than his.

"No, no, I just…can I be on top this time?" Nausika says quickly, slipping out from under him just as fast and move Shizuo on to his back.

"Hey, what's that?" The bodyguard asks curiously. He grasps Nausika's shoulder gently to try and turn her to the side, but the other blonde roughly shrugs off his touch.

"What's what? Nothing, here, let's get this off so you can be more comfortable." Nasuika says trying to sound coy while leaning down over him to undo his button up.

"No, wait; I saw something on your back." He insists, taking her hands in his to stop her and looking up at her seriously.

The other blonde wrenches her hands free but continues to smile. "That would be my bra back Shizuo. But this one is a front clasp piece, see." She rebuttals, moving to undo the clasp. But Shizuo grabs her hands again before she can, a frown deep on his face.

"Stop trying to distract me with your breasts! I know I saw something!" Shizuo shouts and uses the hands with in his to flip her off him on to her stomach and looks at her back with an odd curious stare. "The hell….?"

"Shizuo don't, just leave it be." Nausika practically begs him but knows it's useless and doesn't fight him when his hand caresses the cut diagonaling from her rib cage to her lower back. "I was coming home and that Slasher girl attacked me, said that I stole you from her. Shinra told me carries a demonic blade called Saika. Whatever it is, it cut me. And….it won't heal." She explains in quick summary but isn't sure if he's listening. He's dead quiet and when she looks over her shoulder at him he's just staring blankly at her back.

"Shizuo?" She questions but the ex-bartender still says nothing in response. He just gets up and walks over to the adjacent wall with that same blank face, stands there momentarily, and then drills his fist into it hard enough to put a massive crater in the entire piece. "Shizuo!" Nausika exclaims, shooting up on her knees and startled by the sudden outburst of strength from the blonde who usually tries so hard to restrain it around her.

"She's dead." He mutters quietly in an ominous tone. Nausika is about to ask him what he means but then he's screaming, "She's dead! I'm gonna kill her! I'm gonna find her and kill her! Why didn't you tell me this before?! Where the hell is my phone?! I need to call Celty! I'm gonna rip that bitches head off when I find her!" He roars and with wild eyes zeros in on his phone on the night stand but it's snatched away before he can reach it. "Give me my phone Nausika!"

"No! You need to calm down!" Nausika shouts back, looking prepared to use the yellow device as a weapon if need be.

"Give me my phone!" Shizuo demands again with his hands out.

"No! I'm not willingly going to let you run off into the night with Celty after that thing! It could kill you! Or worse, have you thought about how it's gonna look if you kill what looks like a high school girl with your bare hands?!" She rationalizes. The answer is bad by the way. It would look very, very bad.

"I don't care! She should have thought about that before!" Shizuo barks angrily, hand still out silently demanding his phone.

"Before what?!"

"Before she hurt you!" He yells and seems to simmer with that instantly, if only a little, before falling to his knees and taking her by the shoulders. "I promise. I promise no one, and I mean no one, is going to hurt you, ok. Not me, not those punks from the color gangs, not this Slasher, _no one!_ And I swear, I'm gonna find her and I'm gonna make her pay for this! I love you and I'm going to protect you!" He vows seriously, brown eyes burning so strong that it's enough to take her breath away. "Now give me my phone so I can call Celty and kill this bitch!"

Nausika realizes that Shizuo probably hasn't caught up to what he's just said. He rarely ever does when he gets all passionate and feisty like this. His mouth, like his strength, runs faster than his brain. But when he's like that you know what he's saying is true because he can't think quick enough to get a lie in edge wise.

_'Shizuo would never lie to me though. It doesn't matter that he's bad at it and couldn't do it if his life depended on it. He still never would. He'd never lie to me, or hurt me, or anything. Shizuo. My Shizuo…'_

"I love you."She says suddenly before her hands are back in his hair and she's kissing him, hard but still gently in a very intense way.

Shizuo's eyes slip closed and he holds her to him by her waist, his anger forgotten in lieu of being kissed by her. She has this amazing effect on him Nausika does. She just has this ability to take away all the bad and anger and hurt and replace it with this incredible good he can't describe. He just gets swept away in it.

Then his brain kick starts again. And his eyes snap open in the middle of the kiss.

She loves him….

She loves him….

She said it….

Shizuo had thought, he had hoped, and he had wondered, but now she had said it. She loves him, she really does. And he's filled with another indescribable feeling at the news.

His hands lash out to the sides of her face and kisses her more fiercely. The kiss is no longer soft or gentle, but fiery and consuming. Shizuo can feel it burning inside him. Like some deep lonely part of him is burning away in this kiss. And he surrenders. "Nausika…" He rasps, his voice husky with lack of air and things he can't describe with his forehead pressed to hers while he breathes in her breath. "You mean it?" He asks after a moment. He has to know, make sure, that this isn't a trick or a terrible lie.

The other blonde chuckles softly and nods her head against his. "Yes, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't. Sorry it took me so long." She tells him and pulls back a little to look at him with shining teal eyes.

And he kisses her again. And again, and again, before he pulls back a little to tell her, "I love you too."

"I know. Come here," She says and gets this odd look on her face when she pulls him by his shirt collar back on to the bed. It's like this strange mixture of acceptance of a decision and nostalgic happiness, he thinks. Almost like the look she had on her face before she kissed him for the first time.

"Nausika, what are you-" Shizuo's perplexity is cut off when she yanks him a little hard and his lips fall on hers, as does the rest of him.

"Don't ask stupid questions." She chastises him, placing soft gentle kisses against his lips with each button her nimble fingers unlock.

And she's right. He does know what she's doing.

A thousand thoughts bombard him at once at the realization. He wants to tell her to stop, to pull away, to run away. He can't be trusted. He's too unpredictable with his strength. They shouldn't do this. But he wants to tell her to stay, to never leave, to be with him. He's thought about it. _God _has he thought about it. And about how much he wants to do this.

He wants to be selfish, but he doesn't want to risk it. He could hurt her. Or he could kill himself by telling her no.

A pair of hands caress up the hard planes of his stomach and then chest when his shirt falls open, halting all thought in his mind.

This isn't new. She's done this before. But with the new found meaning this touch has, the promise of more than just this, he flinches and shakes almost as much as the first time she touched him this way. Almost…

"If you don't want to, we can stop." Nausika's voice, with its normal sultry tone, rings out in the dark. Shizuo opens his eyes he hadn't known he had closed to look down into hers, the blue green orbs highlighted to the point of glowing in the moonlight.

And he laughs.

Not a lot, but he couldn't help it. It was just too funny that she was asking that. Wasn't that supposed to be his line? Didn't the guy say that?

"No, it's ok. It's gonna be ok." He says. And he isn't sure who he's trying to assure more, her or himself, but smiles lovingly down at her before giving her another kiss.

He still thinks he should warn her; give her a chance to get away. But as the kiss ends and falls into another, and another, and another, for once Shizuo has lost the will to fight.

* * *

As her kisses travel to his neck her hands continue to slide up and down his body, as does his to hers, in lethargic affection. Then his shirt is being slowly slipped from his arms and tossed away. And normally that would be the end of it. But then her hands teasingly slide back down his body with light scratches he is almost ashamed to admit he likes until they land on his belt.

"Wait, wait!" Shizuo says just as the buckle is freed and all movement halts.

"Do you want to stop?" The other blonde asks calmly and Shizuo's face flits back towards hers.

"No! I don't. It's just that…shouldn't we…I mean…I don't have any condoms." He can feel his face heat considerably as he flounders through the statement. He hadn't planned on this. And since he had never nor had he ever thought this would happen he didn't think to keep them on hand. But he does remember quite clearly in his sex education class, along with the under lying message of never have sex ever, that you should always wear a condom.

Nausika, however, does not seem as concerned. "So? You got some gonasphahepalaids you didn't tell me about?" She retorts with an arched brow and his face flounders worse.

"What? No! I mean..I don't wanna…I mean…" He hisses through his teeth and looks away, defeated by his stammering. He honestly hadn't been thinking about that. He had been thinking about other outcomes of sex. But he doubted there was a good way to tell a girl 'I don't wanna get you pregnant' at a time like this.

But Nausika, being the clever Shizuo mind reader she is, takes pity on him and leans up to peck his lips gently.

"I'm clean and I got that covered*." She tells him seriously when she pulls away.

"Oh ok," Is all Shizuo can think to reply with. He guesses he's glad one of them had thought to think a head on this, but still feels slightly inadequate that it wasn't him.

"If you really don't feel comfortable about it, we can go for a run and come back?" Nausika offers with equal seriousness. Because it's a serious topic that should be addressed before they begin. And if he it would make him feel better about this she would do it.

"No! I mean, unless you want to." Shizuo replies, trying not to sound rushed. He'll go if she wants to, but the thought of stopping now is just…unbearable. And he doesn't think he'd have the courage to start again if they stop.

The other blonde chuckles again with a slight shrug, "Not really." She's never liked them anyway. Necessity and practical application aside they felt weird. Then Shizuo is suddenly the one on his back, face lit with surprise at the abrupt switch, while Nausika towers over him with a wolfish grin. "Now, let's see if we can get the mood back." Shizuo gulps a little at the sultry words when he leans down on him and is actually very comfortable now with his belt coming off. His pants are becoming very tight. And what she's going isn't helping.

Nausika places soft kisses on his jawline, his throat, down his chest, and keeps moving further. The blonde man on the bed groans while he bites his lip, his hands going into her loose blonde hair as her lips burn a trail into him. Small nips are pepper in sporadically with the kisses as she moves closer to his pants. The sharp, brief pain highlights the pleasure and he squirms with a gasp at each one.

"That feel good?" She asks darkly against his stomach and he can only nod in response. It feels really good, too good even. He wonders briefly if that says something about him, that he likes when she bites and scratches him.

He feels more than hears the throat laugh from her through his body once his pants button is undone. And if he had the sense of mind he would realize that was a bad thing.

Then she's gone.

Shizuo's eyes fly open and he frantically looks for her in the dark, worried that this is some cruel trick of a dream and that she's never been here.

But he doesn't have to look far. She hasn't gone anywhere. The light, teasing chuckle that filters from her and into the room as she takes off her pants is incredibly sexy to him. So is her body when she stands in just her under things in the milky blue of moon light.

Shizuo gulps again.

Nausika gives another wicked smirk as she slowly crawls back on top of him like a cat, all lithe grace and sensual curves. And coy like one as well, for when she reaches his face instead of a peck on his lips like Shizuo expects it lands on his nose.

"Do you want to do the honors or should I?" Nausika asks, the warmth of her body pressed against him gone as she sits back on her knees.

Shizuo looks perplexed for a moment. Then he realizes what she's asking. With surprisingly still hands the ex-bartender reaches up and undoes the clasp of her bra with ease. The black material pops free without it's lynch pin in the system and still with incredible ease he smooths the satin like material off her shoulders to also be tossed aside.

And he stares at her for a second; wanting to rememorizes things he's seen before in this new light along with the new. His large hands then come up to cup her breasts and massage them gently. He really likes her breast. They weren't gigantic like some women most men thought ideal; they were average, in size and shape. But to him they were perfect. She was perfect.

A breathy sigh escapes her lips as her back arches her breast further toward him as he continues to play with them. Straight white teeth chew into her bottom lip and her eyes flutter when he sits up to take one in his mouth, her fingers thread into his blonde hair as she starts to pant as his tongue laves over it slowly. Shizuo smirks devilishly before switching to the other. It gives him an immense satisfaction that he can make her feel good too. It's also an immense turn on that she's like this. That she does want this too.

But soon it's his turn to pant and gasp when her hips roll slightly over him. The friction from it is electrifying and he's a little worried what going to happen when the barrier of his pants and their underwear isn't there to save them. He doesn't want to make a fool of himself on his first time.

"You good?" The blonde above him asks when he looks up at her, hips still moving a slow circles against him that Shizuo's matching. Her eyes have grown darker and face is flush as she pants out heated breath against him. Shizuo can't think straight enough to speak and nods before he groans low and his head falls into her shoulder at a more forceful grind of her hips. He nods more enthusiastically after that from his place in the crook of her neck.

She laughs lightly. "Good,"

Then she moving them and he almost groans again but in protest. This is good. He likes this. This feels good. Why on earth would she want to move?

But then it clicks for him ask she starts pushing at his pants from under him. "Wait, you…you should be on top." Shizuo says, proud that he's not really stammering but can still feel his face flush considerably. He figures that the safest way to do this is with her being in control of the pace and from what he knows about sex the person on top does that. He's about to move off of her when her hand lands on his shoulder.

"I like it better this way." She tells him before her face snaps to the side and cheekbones darken harder in the moonlight. "And…I trust you."

Shizuo's face blanches in surprise._ 'She trusts me…'_ His heart swells again with this new confession. Almost as much as when she told him she loved him. Because this is almost just as important as that.

Nausika doesn't trust anyone hardly. And that was a direct quote from the blonde herself. He gets it, really he does. Though she still doesn't talk much about her past, the bits and pieces she told him about her childhood would make anyone leery of others. So the fact that she trust him, really trust him, makes him feel special and important.

He leans down to kiss her intensely with a mumbled "Ok," on her lips. He'll do it. If it will make her happy he'll do it and he won't hurt her. He won't hurt her, he swears it.

He feels Nausika's lips smile against his. "Good, can you take your pants off now please?"

Shizuo chuckles and looks at her with a playful ire before obliging her. He wants the damn things off anyway. They've become too tight and suffocating. He kisses her neck when he lies back down on top of her, relishing in the breathy moans and arch of her back.

He feels her hand take hold of his and for a second he thinks she trying to literally hold his hand, but then gets confused before his face turns beet red as it's led down her body to the juncture between her legs.

He's not an idiot. He knows what that means. Shizuo may not have real hands on experience to go by but he does know the gist of sex from the internet and adult movies. But still, he's nervous. He _has_ never done this before. What if he does it wrong and she doesn't like it? But he does want to make her feel good. So…

His hand slip under the soft material of her panties and gives the intimate spot an experimental caress with the palm of his hand to see what happens. Nausika's back arches again and her teeth set back into her bottom lip at the light touch. "Shizuo…" She moans with her eyes closed.

Oh, he likes that….

Shizuo does the move again, his fingers brushing against the damp slit there and she gasps sharply. "Shizuo!" She cries when he does it again and he arches a brow down at her with a smirk.

Oh, he likes that too…

"That feel good?" He asks into her ear, mimicking her from earlier, when he stretches up over her again.

And like him she can only hum out an affirmative before her back bows again as those testing finger slip into her. "Ah!" It's only two, but she's wound up so tight that it's enough to make her see stars and not enough at the same time. "Shizuo please…" She whines while clutching his broad shoulders.

Oh, he likes that the best…

"Are you sure?" Shizuo asks, voice husky and thick as he pants almost as much as she does. He's so turned on and he's never been harder in his life. But he wants to makes sure she's ready for him. God just the thought of it is enough to make him cum in his shorts. _'Getting her ready for me.'_

"Yes, yes, I'm sure! I want you. Now! So please." Nausika groans again after her words stumble from her mouth as he keeps exploring her. Later, she'll be grateful that he's being such an attentive lover. Right now, she wants to get to the actual sex.

Shizuo groans and kisses her shoulder gently. _'She wants me. She really wants **me**!'_

He thinks momentarily that he should give it some more time, but the idea is snuffed out quickly as she begins to squirm beneath him. He can't wait either. He needs her now too.

Shizuo pulls back a little with her panties in hand and Nausika help take off his boxer briefs and lining him up in front of her. He pauses for a moment, poised at entry, mentally taking a deep breath and looking at her for confirmation, before thinking _'This is it.'_

Slowly, carefully he slides in. Shizuo's eyes widen to the size of saucers before snapping closed with a throaty groan. Oh God! He had an idea when he touched her what it would be like, but it was ten times what he expected. It's so hot and felt so good and they haven't even really started yet.

Nausika's moans turns into a sharp cry once he's buried to the hilt and his head snaps back.

"You ok?!" He asks with worry etched on his face. Oh God! They haven't even really started yet and he already messed up!

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're just…bigger than I originally thought." Nausika assures him, a slight pant already in her voice and soft smile on her lips.

Shizuo's mouth juts up at the corner and feels his chest puff a little at that. "You sure you're ok?" He asks again with his forehead pressed against hers. His voice trembling a little from the strain of trying not to move yet, in case she is hurt.

"I will be in a minute once you start going." She tells him; with a smirk he can't see but hear.

The bodyguard scoffs low in his chest and tilts is chin down to seal his lips against hers as he slowly pulls out and thrust back in.

The room is soon filled with soft moans and sighs as an almost lazy pace is set in motion.

Shizuo wants to go slow. He figures it's the easiest way to control his strength if he does. But his body wants to go faster, get more friction, and more of those sweet sounds from the woman under him who rocks her hips into his thrust in perfect unison. But his control his already stretched tight. God knows what he'll do if he loses it.

"Ah!...Mmm! Ah! Shizuo! It's ok. Go faster. Please!"

And if anyone heard a loud 'snap' after that, that would be the sound of Shizuo's control snapping in two.

The blonde on top pulls back and then thrust deep back inside. His pace suddenly becomes relentless; with no build up to the new tempo what so ever.

"Oh Fuck!" Nausika exclaims before the only thing coming out of her mouth is sharp, crescendoing cries of pleasure.

"Ha…! Ah! Nausika!" Shizuo's vocabulary is in no better shape. He pants and groans loudly from the crook of her neck. His weight on his forearms to not crush her, he at least had the state of mind to do that.

Nausika's cries get louder and her legs at his side come up to wrap around his waist like her arms around his neck. "Shizuo! Don't stop! Hn, right there, don't stop!"

_'Why the fuck would I stop?'_ He thinks, not having the capacity to actually say that, before his vision bleaches white as she tightens further around him. Her nails dig into his shoulder and her whole body shakes as she calls out his name and God's.

"Oh shit!" The blonde male only gets about two more thrust in before his vision swims bright again, but this time for his own orgasm, and he grips the headboard tight with one hand, afraid he'll get swept away in the tidal wave washing over him. He's pretty sure he called out her name and God's too. But he can't be sure.

As he comes down, panting and sweaty from it all, he carefully pulls out of her completely. A small groan escapes both their lips when he does, but he knows it has to be before he collapses next to her; lest he do it on top of her and crush her.

The two blondes lay side by side for a moment, catching their breath and basking in the afterglow of rumpled sheets. Then the bed shifts, alerting Shizuo, as Nausika rolls over with covers in hand and slips into her place by his side; her head on his shoulder and arm draped over his chest. The strongest man in Ikebukoro smiles a warm, stated smile at her before he kisses the top of her head and wraps his arm around her shoulder.

He thinks he should say something, but can't think of what. He can tell Nausika is asleep already anyways, so he just follows her lead again and drifts of to sleep.

* * *

_All done! Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks to flyfly246, gzillafan, SirenaRLoganK, NinjaChipmunk , ChRiStMaS 310, UncommonIdiocy, Ann O'Neem, ShatteredSoul37 , and guests for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Let me know how you felt about this chapter/the story (and if you would like to see more chapters like this (you know what I mean…))_

_Thanks for reading!_

_*-ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS **MAKE SURE YOU WEAR A CONDOM UNLESS YOU HAVE HAD THIS CONVERSATION WITH A SERIOUSLY COMMITTED PARTNER**! A lot of fanfiction out there just has people having sex all willy-nilly and not talk about this BUT I AM! I will be honest and say that my boyfriend and I, we do not use condoms. But that IS ONLY because we have been together for a year and half now, we both have completely clean bills of health, AND I am on contraception to not have babies (because we are not ready finically, emotionally, or stably ready for them!). Some people are big advocates of doubling down and GOOD FOR YOU. Be extra safe rather than sorry. But let me be clear: if you are not in a long-term committed relationship (which is more than a month kids) with a clean partner, not on some other form of birth control, and/or you are not ready finically, emotionally, or stably to care for a kid **WEAR A CONDOM**! Be responsible with your health and well-being and the health and well-being of your partner. Sex is fun, but it is not a game. Take it seriously!_

_The PSA of the day is now over._


	17. Blown Away

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

_A/N: Just a heads up (and not to put out any spoilers) but this story is about to get a little more AU. Just wanted to let you all know._

* * *

The morning in Ikebukuro is bright and sunny like most mornings in the city. Birds chip outside, kids run up and down the street in the early noon sun, couples walk hand in hand.

_'Fucking hell…'_

Shizuo opens squinted eyes slowly and looks back over his shoulder at the uncurtained window angrily. He doesn't open his curtains so he wonders grumpily how they are open and letting so much damn sun light in.

Then his brain catches up to him, _'Nausika'_. She opens them when she gets up before him, said it was the easiest way to get him up and as he was a heavy sleeper and terrible morning person when prodded. When he pointed out the obvious notion that he was still being prodded she had responded with a 'better you be mad at the window than me'.

Shizuo smiles with a sigh before he flops the rest of the way over onto his back. He scrubs his face with his hands before fanning his arm out at his side and stares up at the ceiling. _'Did that…really happen?'_

The groggy feeling in his muscles and general hazy feeling around him tells him yes, but the mental pictures don't hurt either. He smiles sheepishly as if currently under scrutiny and a warm feeling fills his chest.

He knows it's stupid, to feel so happy over something as trivial as having sex, but he does. Not because it happen, although he is really happy about that, but because it makes him feel normal. A small piece that up until a few months ago he thought would always be out of reach makes him like everyone else. It makes him feel like he's not a monster or a freak. Someone was willing to be close to him, not afraid, to be intimate with him, who loved him.

_"I love you."_ Shizuo smile blooms wider at the soft words his mind replays for him before he sits up on his elbows. He wonders where she's gone but the sound of a small crash followed by a quiet curse and smell of instant coffee tells him she hasn't gone far.

The blonde smirks with a slight chuckle before he ruffles his hair. He tosses off the covers, intending to get up and join her in the kitchen, but stops wide eyed in the bed.

_'What the hell is that? Is that…blood?!'_

The small bright red stain on his sheets glaring back at him tells him that it has to be.

_'Did her cut come open during the night? Or during….no. No, her cut's higher up. This looks too lower, like near her…'_ Shizuo brain stops as he realizes where the stain could have come from.

_'Oh God…_' He suddenly feels sick to his stomach and swings his legs to over the side of the bed to cradle his head. _'What did I do?' _He ponders bitterly.

Had he…been too rough? In the heat of the moment he forgot to be gentle or cautious about his strength. He had lost it. He had. He knew he had. But…he had thought he hadn't hurt her. She seemed to like it, enjoyed it.

_'What the hell are you going to do when a wild animal attacks you? She probably just wanted to be over with. Was probably too scared to say anything.'_

Shizuo swallows the lump in his throat that appears just as his stomach drops and lifts his head. He suddenly feels ashamed over what they did. He had been selfish, taken advantage of her love for him to fulfill his desires. _'Oh God, what did I do?!'_ He buries his face in his hands again, finger tips clutching at his blonde locks in an almost painful manner.

He can hear noises from the kitchen again and finds the once pleasant sound deafening. He knows eventually she'll come in to get him. So he steels himself, pulls on some sweat pants and a T-shirt from his closet, and goes to face her.

* * *

Despite how much Shizuo drags his feet the short hallway to the kitchen just isn't long enough. He stops in the open door way of the kitchen. His stomach drops again.

Usually, when she makes breakfast for them she's in her pajamas from the previous night. This morning, since she had no pajamas, she's in one of his work shirts and her panties, humming quietly at the stove. He's not sure where she got the shirt since he hadn't worn the outfit last night. And his body conflicts with him over his sorrow for what he's apparently done and how arousing she is like that.

_'Oh God, what have I done?'_ He thinks ruefully at the thought that he hurt this woman who loves him, wants him, and is apparently making him pancakes.

Nausika seems to notice his hovering and glances over her shoulder at him. His gut wrenches and his face flinches at the soft, sweet smile on her face, feeling undeserving of it. But she doesn't notice as by the time it happens she's already turn back to her skillet. He suddenly feels the urge to sit down, so he takes a seat at his kitchen bar.

"I woke up and was starving and had the strangest craving for pancakes. So I went ahead and made breakfast. Well, it's more like brunch now, but honestly I would eat pancakes any time of day." Nausika tells him and turns around with a plate full of little yellow circles. But the smile on her face falls when she sees the look on his. "Shizuo, what's wrong? You look upset." Her head tilts to the side and she gets a look of worry in her eyes.

Shizuo stays quiet for another moment longer before replying. "Did …did I hurt you Nausika?" He asks finally, eyes hidden by his bangs as he hangs his head, and Nausika seems taken aback by the questions.

"Hurt me? Why would you ask that?" She asks curiously while taking a seat next to him.

"Because of how I am. My strength and all…I..I can't control it. No matter what I do. And…this morning there was blood. Did I…do that…?" He doesn't really know how to phrase the question. He almost doesn't want to ask, doesn't want to know. But he has to.

If he had been looking at her, he would see Nausika face fright in surprise before calming despite the impressive blush.

"Oh…that…um…yeah…" She stammers and rubs the back of her neck before realizing Shizuo fist tighten. "No, no! It's not that! I didn't mean that. You didn't fuck me so hard I bled or anything. I didn't break anything serious. And if I did it healed. But…since I can't control my _ability_ either, anytime something breaks it heals. You get it?" She asks in a leading way but Shizuo blank stare back at her says that no, he doesn't get it. "Really? Did they not teach you this in sex-ed? When you have sex with a girl for the first time, they bleed a little because their hymen breaks. Thanks to my ability, even though I've had sex before, I will always clinically be a virgin*." The blonde woman explains in a rather clinical fashion. It's the best way she's found to ever have to explain it to someone so far.

For Shizuo though, it's still not very helpful. "Oh….I…oh…" He stammers horribly with an equal blush, at a loss for words that he had been so inept at human anatomy, her ability, and jumped to such a conclusion that he had 'fucked her so hard she bled'.

"So now that we've made it sufficiently awkward for everyone, who wants pancakes?" Nausika seaways awkwardly, pulling the pancake plate between them and eating one from her fingers.

"But I…didn't hurt you, right? I mean…that didn't hurt did it." Shizuo asks innocently.

Nausika smiles warmly at him before popping the rest of the pancake in her mouth. "I mean, it's not exactly comfortable at first, but I've had worse. And that wasn't your fault. It's just biology." She tells him in a soothing manner she seems to always take with him when he's being too hard on himself, before it shift to an expression more coy. "If anything, I thought you were great."

The ex-bartender's face heats up again and demeanor becomes slightly bashful. "Really?" He had wanted to do a good job, but had heard from people in the past that the first time was always awkward and was worried that maybe she hadn't liked it.

"Mmhmm…" Nausika hums in a seductive manner before seamlessly transferring herself from her chair into Shizuo's lap. "In fact, my master plan was to bribe you with pancakes to get you to ravage me again." She tells him in a sinful way, arms wrapped around his neck like her thighs around her legs.

That had not been the plan actually. The plan had really been pancakes. She was under the assumption that Shizuo would want to wait a bit before trying again. Given his trepidation about it and his strength she expected he would need time to let it sink in.

What she hadn't expected was for him to gulp quietly before he leans in next to her ear and tells her, "You don't have to bribe me with pancakes." In a tone that sends a shiver down her spine before she's suddenly up in the air.

"Ah! Shizuo! Put me down! But my pancakes!" Her protest is somewhat weakened by the position she's in draped over his broad shoulder and laughing like she is.

"You said you could eat them any time of day, so eat them later!" The other blonde shouts back at her, scowling jovially back at her as he takes his 'hostage' back to the bedroom.

* * *

"I still don't see why you have to go to your apartment." Shizuo mutters around a mouthful of now cold pancakes. Even though it's well past lunch time, they still taste really good to his empty stomach.

"Because I need clothes for work tomorrow and I haven't been there in a few days." Nausika tells him as she comes out of the bedroom while putting on her jacket. "Besides, it's about time we came up for air." She teases him with an added wink and chuckle at his blush. They've practically spent the entire day in bed and he still blushes like a middle schooler at the vocalization of sex. "I won't be long. And if you want later you can swing by my place and we can bother my neighbors for a bit instead" She promises, arms wrapping around his waist from behind, chin on his shoulder, and peck on the side of his neck by his ear in affection.

"Yeah, sure." Shizuo says, trying to sound manly despite the flush in his face. Seeing that there's no taking her out of it he walks her over to the door and holds it open for her. He leans heavily on it and smiles in a lazy way at her before she exits. "I love you." He tells her, thinking that it's better than goodbye and more comfortable with saying it now that it's out in the open for both of them. Plus he figure he should say it at least once today not tangled in sheets.

Nausika smiles at him in a similar manner. "I love you too Shizuo." She replies and leans in to give him a peck on the lips before leaving with a wave.

The blonde male watches her head down the stairs and disappear into the city with a peaceful expression before closing the door behind him. And the sound of it closing and locking is suddenly very loud in his empty apartment. He's never thought his apartment was too big, but currently it feels that way. It's this odd combination of it being too big and the walls are closing in at the same time. He needs to get out of there. Go somewhere, do something.

Shizuo smirks a little at his door before he heads for the bathroom. If he showered and changed now, by the time he left it would be later right?

* * *

It takes a little while to get to Nausika's from his place on foot, especially if Shizuo's not in a hurry. After showering and changing into his normal attire he walks down the streets in a lazy sort of calm.

He smiles at the thought of seeing her again and realizes it's foolish to be excited about seeing someone he's already spent most of the day with but he is so screw it. He'd be damned if he'd let anyone dictate how he felt before and he finally has a reason to be happy. So screw it, he'll be happy.

He had really thought that he would spend the rest of his life alone up until he met her. She was smart, funny, beautiful, caring. She was perfect. He really felt lucky to have a girl like her to call his. Shizuo sometimes wondered sullenly what someone as perfect her ever saw in someone like him.

Suddenly, a petite girl with inky black straight hair steps into his path. Shizuo is startled by the abrupt cut off and furrows his brow at her. She's an odd looking young woman, with fire engine red go-go boots and black long sleeve sweater dress, staring up at him with big, scrutinizing golden eyes.

"You're tall." The ravenette says out of the blue, almost devious smirk pressed into her red lips, and Shizuo's brow creases further.

"Um…thanks?" He replies, scratching the back of his head in confusion. Most people stayed out of his way. And it was an odd thing to say to a stranger upon meeting them.

"And really handsome." She adds, not seeming to notice that that is an awkward thing to say and the general odd tension in the air. "I like tall boys that are handsome. What a lucky girl I am, to find someone like you."

"Uh…yeah, thanks. But I have a girlfriend." He tells her apprehensively. It's the oddest feeling near the back of his skull. This itching feeling crossed between when he met Izaya and Nausika for the first time. An instinct reaction that tells him something is different about her and something is also dangerous.

The woman seems oblivious to this as her face slowly unfurls into a crescent eyed smile and brief chuckle. "I know." She says in a way that makes Shizuo skin crawl more as she spins on her toes out of his path and walks away. And just as she leave Shizuo swears he hears a faint, "But not for long though" but by the time he spins around she's gone.

Shizuo's brow re-furrows as he stares off into the crowd for any trace of the strange girl but then placids when he hears the roar of a bike engine.

"Hey Celty, what's happenin'?" He greets his headless friend as he walks up to her.

She nods her helmet, her PDA suddenly in hand. _:I'm good. Working.:_

"The life of a transporter never rests, hn?" The blonde jokes with her with a smile and Celty's helmet tilts to the side.

_:You seem in a good mood.:_

Shizuo flushes at the innocent comment, his brain thinking the worst of what that could mean. "Ah! Yeah, well, it's been a good day so far. Can't complain…"

_:Are you going to see Nausika?:_

"W-Why would you ask?" He's worried now she knows about what happened and suddenly feels like a catholic school boy caught in the evil eye of an imposing nun.

_:I saw her not to long ago. I think she's headed home if you're looking for her.:_ Celty responds easily and Shizuo calms, realizing that she probably doesn't know anything and is just making small talk.

"Hm, thanks." He likes that Nausika has made friends with his friends. Shizuo may want the bulk of her attention but he doesn't want to monopolize her completely. She needs other people too, even if she disagreed. She never talked much about her friends from before and, judging by how she never talked about them, probably didn't have any. Or at least friends she didn't want to see anymore, which he thinks is just as bad.

Suddenly the nice, calm moment between the body guard and the transporter is interrupted by the sound of an explosion cracking across the sky line.

"What the hell was that?!"

Celty doesn't say anything, but she hands Shizuo a helmet manifested out of shadows. He gets the hint and hops on. The bike speeds off the few blocks the explosion came from and Shizuo balks in his helmet as he realizes where they're going. _'Nausika's place is this way.'_

He hopes that it's a coincidence, but when they stop outside of her building the debris on the ground, the black smoke billowing out of one unit, he knows that his hope was futile. "Nausika!" Shizuo leaps of the bike and throws his shadow helmet aside. His long legs and speed get him up the stairs in no time and just as he makes it to the door someone is stumbling out.

"Nausika!" Shizuo cries after a fraction of a pause. It is her, it was hard to tell with all the soot in her hair and tattered clothing. But when he sees the yellow leather through the ash and those teal eyes snap up to look at him he knows it's her.

"We gotta go!" Nausika says in a rush, shoulder bag in her hand flipped over her head quickly, and takes his hand as she's about to pass and practically drags him back down the stairs.

"Hey, wait! What happened?! We're you in there?! Nausika stop!" Shizuo finally gets frustrated with the pulling and lack of answers and brings himself to a halt. The sudden stop jerks Nausika and she stumbles a little. Shizuo's hands catch her carefully by her shoulder and he asks her again, "What the hell happened?!"

Nausika is panting slightly, but Shizuo knows it's not from the stairs or the brisk sprint down them. He's seen her run blocks and not break a sweat. He wonders, briefly, if it's because he had to heal herself tremendously. It's safe to assume she was in her apartment during the blast and the thought of that makes his stomach drop into a pit.

Then, suddenly, he realizes something. She scared. Maybe not exactly scared, but terribly worried.

He wonders why for a moment. Nausika isn't afraid of death or pain. Thanks to her ability she doesn't have to. She treats events like broken arms and getting ran over and crushed and burned as inconveniences to be dealt with. So he wonders what it is about this that's made her so scared.

"I'll explain in a minute. Right now, we need to get out of here. Just trust me Shizuo!"

Shizuo has never seen her damn near panic before so he just nods, lets his hand be taken, and once again dragged away from the scene just as siren sounds start coming in louder. They don't go the way he came. She leads them through a back way alley near the side; mostly hidden that no one probably ever takes, and keeps walking.

Nausika drops his hand once they're back on the street and Shizuo follows beside her quietly. His eyes flit over to her out of the corner of his shades and is becoming more and more on edge of the situation as her eyes dart around.

He wants to ask her what the hell happened, why did her place blow up, why does she look so tense, and where the hell are they going. But he agreed he'd wait, so he would... patiently wait. He also wants to know what's in that bag she's clutching the strap of so tight. She almost never carries a bag or a purse, said she didn't want to be responsible for that much stuff at one time anyway. So what's in there?

Suddenly Nausika whips around and has a guy by the shirt collar thrown up against a wall before he can blink.

"Why are you following me?!" She shouts at him, forearm pressed under his chin. Shizuo is about to pull her off him, thinking that in the shock of the moment she's become hyper paranoid or lost it. But the guy doesn't seem that surprised.

"Tokyo! Tokyo it's me!"

"Cowboy?"

* * *

_Thanks to Emerald Gaze, PirateQueenLulu, SirenaRLoganKStrawberry'sCuzin, pheromones, Bravery-Homunculus, flyfly246, Ann O'Neem, gzillafan, NinjaChipmunk, and guests for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Reviews and opinions are still and always greatly appreciated! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! 3_

_*No one ever talks about that with female regenerators. Except for True Blood, True Blood does. Sorry if I made it awkward for anyone._


	18. Don't peak

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

* * *

"Tokyo! Tokyo it's me!"

"Cowboy?" Nausika's face flashes with surprised recognition before returning to anger. "What the fuck are you doing here!?"

"I could ask you the same thing." The man replies curtly, not seeming alarmed or even intimidated by the blonde's almost murderous stare. The sandy haired brunette is calm and placid in his cocky revere. "Been a year and you don't write or call? We all thought you were dead."

"That would be the fucking point Cowboy! How the fuck did you find me? Did you blow up my apartment?!" Nausika shouts in accusation.

"What?! No! Why the hell would we do that?! As for the how, you weren't the only one Chi told she wanted to come here Tokyo." The brunette cries while flaying a little in her grasp and if Shizuo had had the consciousness to think he would think this guy reminded him of the kid with the pens. But at the current moment he is too confused, standing behind Nausika like he's a spectator of a movie, to think.

Who was this guy? Nausika obviously knew him and he obviously knew her. He had to be from her past then? This revelation alarmed him. _'Her past?! What would someone from her past doing her? Who is this guy? Tokyo?'_

A shout from the blonde brings him back to shocked reality. "Don't you dare say that name!" Nausika snarls before her face flashes in surprise again. "Wait, we? Who's we?" She demands, pressing her forearm harder into Cowboy's throat.

"Oh shit…." He croaks, still not seeming scared but comically flaying more as his air way is cut off.

"Relax, it's just me." The two blondes whip their heads towards the other entrance of the alley way.

"Dakota?" Nausika asks curiously as the woman comes closer through the shadows.

"Who else were you expecting?" She asks, the echo of her boots fading into silence once she reaches them. She is of Nausika's height and similar build. She has dark chocolate colored hair and eyes with a serious face. Somehow, he's not sure how, she reminds Shizuo of Kyohei.

But unlike the appearance of the lighter brunette, this stranger's presence seems to calm Nausika. If only just a little.

"No one actually," The blonde replies while simultaneously releasing her prey. "Did you fuckers blow up my place?"

"No. And why do you care? It's not like it'd kill you anyway." The dark woman replies cooly and Shizuo furrows his brow. _'Wait…does that mean?'_

But Nausika only gives a sharp scoff to her retort. "I kept all my nice stuff there. Plus there's the little hiccup of using high explosive IN AN APARTMENT BUILDING!" She ends up shouting. And again it seems Shizuo is the only one surprised.

The woman shrugs. "Fair enough, but if I was going to try and kill you I'd put a bullet in your head from a hundred yards away." The blatant, though unthreatening, threat snaps Shizuo completely out of his confused freeze and he steps closer to Nausika with a sneer. Nausika and the brunette seem to just realize he's there. "Who's he?" The brunette asks but doesn't seem worried about him, just a calm shift of her eyes towards him to acknowledge his threat by mere presence.

Shizuo begins to grow on edge and angry, but halts when a hand shots up against his chest to stop his slow approach. "None of your damn business." The other blonde practically hisses and Shizuo's face balks for a second. He's heard her mad before, but this was different. She sounded down right vicious, scary vicious like she promised pain if you crossed her.

"Oooo someone's touchy. Year gone and she gets new friends." The other male comments snarkily with an Izaya like smirk. Shizuo glares. _'I don't like him….'_

"We weren't ever friends Cowboy." Nausika bites back with a cold stare.

"Ouch my pride. And I was gonna buy you waffles." Cowboy replies casually, surprising her. "You got blown up right? Probably should eat some food before you pass out." And as if on cue Nausika's apprehension and anger disappears as her eyes flutter shut. "Whoops! It's almost like I'm psychic."

"Nasuika!" Shizuo cries catching her just before she hits the ground and shaking her lightly. "Hey, hey, come on wake up!"

"That's not gonna work you know. She's out like a light for at least a couple hours." Shizuo's head snaps back wildly to the dark brunette woman who steps back with her hands raised in submission. "Whoa easy! We're friends of Tokyo's. Nausika's," The woman corrects evenly and Shizuo narrowed his eyes at her. _'Friends?'_ He had never met or heard about these friends. And she didn't seem too happy to see them. What kind of friends were they? "Look when she wakes up; tell her to give us a call. It's important."

She whips out a card, seemingly out of thin air, and he takes it slowly. It's blank and white aside from the black numbers on it. Shizuo examines it before looking up at her in confusion. But instead of an answer all she tells him is, "I'd start moving to where ever it was you were going. Cops are gonna be looking for a bomber. And she doesn't look all that innocent all tore up like that." And the brunette is leaving through the other end smoothly, the man giving him a wink before following.

"Hey wait-!" Shizuo shouts but halt in his thought to pursue them when he's reminded of the weight in his arms. "Nausika," He mutters quietly and shakes her lightly again but still gets no response other than her breathing.

Shizuo grows more concerned but the piercing sound of sirens snap him out of his worried trance. He looks back down at her and quickly hoists her up bridal style to spirit her away.

* * *

It takes much longer than usual to get back to his place using back alleys and staying out of the public eye, but he finally manages.

"Ok, we're here." Shizuo says after he closes the door but expects no response. Nausika hadn't made a peep or movement the whole trip. He talked to her through the trip, hoping she can hear him tell her it's going to be ok through her deep sleep.

He carries her to the bedroom to lay her down. The ash and soot on her body instantly darkens the white sheets but he doesn't care. They need to be washed and changed anyway.

Shizuo debates briefly on taking off her clothes but doesn't. Despite the…new level of their relationship he doesn't feel comfortable stripping her naked without her consent. So instead, he busies himself with getting a wet wash cloth and cleaning off her face. He hates looking at it with all that dirt on it.

When it's clean, he puts the dirtied cloth on the nightstand and continues to stroke her cheek with his hand.

His mind races with thoughts while he looks at her.

What happened? Why did it happen? Who were those people? How did they know Nausika? Was all this happening because of him? Or was it about what happened before she came here? Had her presumably horrible past finally caught up with her? Had she been a thief? A murder? A prostitute?

Shizuo hisses in anger at himself for thinking such things about her.

Nausika was a good person. She was a great person!

Yeah sure she had a bit of a temper now and then, and a habit of drop kicking punks in public, but it was always deserved!

But…maybe she hadn't always been a great person, a good person.

Shizuo looks down at the ground dejectedly before he sighed and kissed her head. "Sleep well kid." He tells her and leaves the room.

The tall blonde flops down on his couch and lights up a cigarette. After taking a deep pull of nicotine he scratches his eyes wearily after removing his sunglasses. He supposes for right now he should just be happy she's ok and alive. He can get his answers when she wakes up.

His eyes are suddenly drawn to the bag on the floor dusting soot onto his carpet near the door.

He hadn't been thinking about it when he dropped it there, more worried about the woman in his arms, but now he did. The brown canvas bag seemed to be staring back at him, like he and it were the only things in the room.

A thought pops into his head but he angrily tries to squash it.

_'No! I'm not going to go through her bag! She trusts me! And those are her private things! I can wait till she wakes up!'_ He thinks harshly.

But the growing presence of the bag in the room becomes too much to bare.

And like a child presented with the opportunity to peak at Christmas presents early, he caves.

"The hell…."

* * *

_I do not like this chapter and I know it's short. But it was getting incredibly long and I needed to break it up. :/_

_Thanks to Emerald Gaze, PirateQueenLulu, ShatteredSoul37, pheromones, flyfly246, Vertan Yamamoto, gzillafan, NinjaChipmunk, and guests for reviewing the previous chapter and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^_

_Reviews and opinions are still and always greatly appreciated! Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! 3_


	19. Connecting the Dots

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

* * *

_"Onee-san! Where are you?" _

_"Back here Chi." Nausika calls from the small room her and her sister share at the base. The warehouse is good for many things. Making a comfortable room is not one of them. But most of them weren't there for long periods of time so it doesn't really bother anyone. The blonde looks up from her book just in time to see her sister appear in the door. The young Yumi sister beams and dashes over to plop on the bed beside her._

_"Onee-san, onee-san, I made a new friend!" Chidori cheers._

_Nausika's face flashes in surprise just as another young woman appears in the doorway._

_"Hi," The newcomer grins in a Cheshire like manner only enhanced by her golden cat shaped eyes._

_"Hi," Nausika reciprocates cautiously before turning back to her sister. "Chidori?" Nausika's never seen her before, so Boss man must have just put her on. Still it's not like Chidori to be friendly to the newcomers either. She was actually quite cold to "outsiders." Their circle in the circle is small and they like it that way._

_"No, no! It's ok! She's like us!" The blue eyed woman assures brightly._

_"Well, more like you than your sister, eh?" The raventte beams a crescent eyed smile while her dark hair flares a little. Suddenly Nausika's book is out of her hands and fluttering like a bird for a second before it plops on the bed. "It's Tokyo right? Or at least that's your new name right. I'm Vitalia." The darker woman says while outstretching her hand, unfazed by the other woman's mild surprise._

_"Or at least that's your new name hn?" Nausika says, taking the offered hand and shaking it._

_The pale woman chuckles with a wide grin. "I just know we're gonna be best friends!" Vitalia cheers enthusiastically._

She smells smoke and for a spilt second Nausika thinks she dreamed her escape and is still in the wreckage of her blown apartment. But then her mind recatalogues the smell as the burn of nicotine laced paper instead smoldering embers. American Spirits to be exacted.

Her head lulls to the left in a heavy, lethargic manner and smiles in a sleepy sort of way at the man sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Hey," Nausika mumbles in a groggily tone before she sits up on the heels of her hands. "Man, I got it coming from all sides now. First a demonic blade is tries to kill me, then my place gets blown up." She rubs the side of her neck, the vertebrae in it ache terribly from the blast but nothing to be alarmed about. For her anyway.

Shizuo doesn't move. He doesn't acknowledge that she's speaking or even awake. He just continues to chain smoke furiously as he stares off into space at the hole he put in his wall.

"Shizuo?"

"Why do you have a bag of guns?"

Nausika's eyes widened in surprise at his almost cold tone and question. "What?" She asks dumbfounded but Shizuo seems unfazed.

"Why do you have a bag of guns? I wanted to ask why your place got blown to bits, but the gun thing seemed more urgent." He elaborates and finally looks at her. "Why do you have a bag of guns?" He repeats, his expression just as cool as his voice.

Nausika's expression falls and she looks away. She's played this out a thousand ways, but now that it's here she doesn't know what to do.

So she goes with what she knows. _'Short answers. Don't let on more than you need. Guard.' _

"'Cause I figured it would be a bad idea if the bomb squad found them." She says casually.

"That's not what I meant." The blonde man snaps.

"They're for protection."

"Protection from what?!"

"I don't know. Bad guys, the people that tried to blow me up, the bad guys that tried to blow me up." She replies coolly with a shrug. _'Stay calm. Keep distance. Guard.'_

"So you can shot people?!" The blonde male roars as he shoots up from the bed.

"They're very good for that."

Shizuo growls and snaps his head away. He finds her aloofness about this infuriating and confusing, but he still doesn't want to lose his temper in front of her. He hates it when he does that. So instead he sighs heavily and tries to calm down.

"Why? Why do you have these? Why would you want to shoot people? Why did your place just…_explode_ out of the blue?!"

"It's not out of the blue. I figured this day would be coming. Granted I didn't think it would come in with such a bang." She says with a bitter chuckle before looking at Shizuo's serious face. "Sorry, morbid humor."

"That's not funny." He scolds her and she looks more dejected about it than normal.

"I know it's not, that's why I said I'm sorry." The blonde woman replies sadly before sighing and getting off the bed. "Look, before we do this, can I shower and change?" She gestures to her still tattered clothing and soot covered body with a pleading look.

Shizuo hisses through his teeth but leaves the room and closes the door.

The tall ex-bartender sits back down on his sofa, eyes boring holes into the items on his coffee table. The shiny steel doesn't give him any answers as he stares with an odd mixture of hatred and concern.

_'Nausika…what happened?'_

Time ticks by, but he waits patiently for her to come out. But after more than an hour passes Shizuo gets concerned. Worried that she's maybe past out in the shower or gotten hurt from her injuries, he goes to check on her. The door isn't locked and he cracks it open a little to call inside. When no answer comes he grows more concerned, but then he sees why there's no answer when he opens the door completely.

No one is there. The shower is still running, washing the dark ring of ash around the tub down the drain, but no one is in it. And the window is open.

"Son of a bitch!"

* * *

"You look rested." Nausika glares heatedly at Cowboy from his seat in the booth next to Dakota.

She had called Dakota from a payphone and told them to meet her here in this restaurant. It was one she didn't frequent, so no one would know her here. And that's how she wanted it.

"Why the fuck are you here?" The blonde asks in English as she sits down. Cowboy's secondhand Japanese is horrible, Dakota's is passable for authentic, but if they are going to be talking about what she assumes they're here for its better no one can understand them.

"Such an ugly mouth on such a pretty face. You disappear and not so much as a 'hi, how you been, nice to see you.'" Cowboy retorts, in English now, with a carefree shrug.

"Hi, how you been, nice to see you, why the fuck are you here?" Cowboy makes a face at the blonde who glares at the childish man.

Dakota rolls her eyes before returning to a serious face. "Vitalia is here." She says flatly and Nausika's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"What?"

"Yeah, she is. Who did you think would blow up your place?" Dakota asks with an arched brow.

"Crazy people." Nausika replies and Dakota makes a gesture of 'there you go'.

"I'll give this to V, she does have a flair for the dramatics. That was some welcome to the neighborhood present." Cowboy comments casually, arm now over the back of the booth.

" 'A friend will be bringing you a gift in the near future…' " Nausika recites and Cowboy arches a brow in confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing." Nausika replies sullenly. "Why?"

"You?" The dark brunette questions instantly.

"I've been here for six-seven months. Why the hell would she show up now?" Nausika asks while leaning heavily against her booth back with her arms crossed.

"Your shield is still up. Not even Luca could find you." She explains and Nausika's eyes widen before shifting to resolved cool.

"Well, that's interesting….."

"You didn't know Chi's block was still up?" Cowboy asks and teal eyes glare angrily at him.

"What did I tell you about saying her name?!" Nausika growls.

The booth rattles ominously as the shady brunette attempts to lunge at the woman but is stopped by Dakota's arm across his chest. "You weren't the only one that loved her you know?! You weren't the only one that lost someone!" Cowboy snaps at her.

"Sit down or I'll take your head off myself!" She warns with a sharp glare. And though he seems to debate the pros and cons of it, he sits back down. Dakota placids again before she turns back to the blonde. "That's not cool, Tokyo. We all loved Chi too."

"That still doesn't change anything." Nausika retorts while crossing her arms before she becomes placid too. "And…I'm not Tokyo anymore."

"You'll always be Tokyo, Nausika. Just like I'll always be Dakota and he'll always be Cowboy. And if you're not, we need you to be." Nausika grows confused by the slightly older woman's words as the two visiting brunettes suddenly get very sullen and nervous. "You wanna know how we really found you? On accident. We followed the bodies in Vitalia's wake here and stumbled on you. Me, Cowboy, Luca, Knives, you, we're all that's left. She's _lost it_." Dakota says with fretful eyes towards the blonde, who seems unfazed.

"Saying she lost it suggests she actually had it to lose."

Dakota and Cowboys's expressions balk for a second at the cool, even retort before Dakota laughs.

"You always were fuckin' funny Tokyo. I missed you." She confesses and Nausika smiles.

"I missed you too." She admits with a smile. And she has. She gave up everything to come to Ikebukoro and not everything had been bad. Some of it had been really good actually. But some never outweighed most and after that cold rainy night in Berlin she had had enough.

"So are you in?" Dakota asks finally in confirmation.

Nausika gives a hard nod and replies with, "Yeah can't let you all have all the fun," As she exits the booth.

"I'm sorry." Dakota says offhandedly and the two women share a long look before Cowboy finally interrupts them.

"So…what's the play?"

Nausika shrugs slightly. "Seems easy enough to me, Danny-boy, follow the bodies."

* * *

Night finally comes to Ikebukuro and most would find the calm dark of the night soothing.

"Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill…" Shizuo muttered from the back of Celty's bike.

_:Shizuo, I appreciate you wanting to help, but you don't have to do this. This is my problem not yours. And there's no guarantee that the Slasher will even show up tonight!:_

"I hate that frickin' Slahsher!" Shizuo growls angrily as he bounces with pent up rage. "I don't care if it_ is_ a demonic blade that can't be killed! If I smash it to pieces I'll kill it dead! Kill, kill, kill…" He trails off again into anger mutters.

Celty sighs.

She had been surprised that she had gotten a message from Shizuo. After the explosion and the sound of cops approaching, she was ashamed to admit it, but had been scared and took off.

_:W-Wait! Calm down Shizuo! These guys are a waste of time right now!:_ The headless rider types out but knows it's useless as the blonde stalks over to the group of thugs.

There's an exchange between the thugs and the tall ex-bartender that Celty can hear before the leaders face is crushed with Shizuo's fist. Celty flinches as the quick but violent altercation ensues before Shizuo calmly walks back to her.

_:Shizuo! That was kind of extreme. Even for you.:_ Celty scolds him in type and Shizuo seems to get the message because he hisses angrily through his teeth.

"I need to take a break."Shizuo says and jerks off the shadow helmet to give back to Celty, not giving her a chance to question as he walks off.

It's an obvious dodge to the questions he just knows she wants to ask. Celty is very insightful of the blonde bodyguard she calls her friend. He knows that she knows something is wrong, but he doesn't want to talk to her about it.

He wants to beat the hell out of something, whether it's the Slasher or those punks it doesn't matter.

He stops a good set of feet away from Celty and lights off a smoke.

Besides, what was he going to tell her if she asked questions anyway?

My girlfriend, who I let into your home, has a bag of guns for some reason and I can't find her and was too worried about getting fucked to bother asking who she might really be?

_'Man, how did this get so fucked up? I never should have listened to Shinra and accepted this so easily. Damn Shirna! No, I'm the idiot. I should have known something was wrong. Someone like her wouldn't want anything to do with someone like me. Or at least who I thought she was….'_

"Hello," The blue shaded blonde whips around from his musing towards the dark haired woman suddenly next to him.

"You again?!"

"Tsk, tsk, so loud! I just wanted to congratulate you on that impressive display. Tall, handsome, and strong! What more could a girl ask for?"

"I still have a girlfriend lady." Shizuo drones from his cigeratte. Or at least he thinks he does. He's not really sure right this second….

The much shorter woman seems displeased. "Hmmm…and loyal. Such a plebian emotion loyalty is. But Tokyo does seem to inspire it in the masses." She ponders out loud, startling Shizuo enough to drop his smoke from his lips.

"Wait, Tokyo? Are you one of her friends?!" The blonde asks in a rush. He may be angry with her for bolting like a burglar out the window, but he's still worried about her. He wants to make sure she was ok.

The woman's chuckle at him is like the chime of small bells. "Friends is a _strong_ word for what we are. We're more acquaintances with homicidal rival tendencies in the market of mayhem." She tells him.

And Shizuo can only respond with a, "Hn?" What the hell did that mean?

"You seem confused. Shall I explain?" The fairy like woman spins on her toes over to him to lean in close to him and hisses to him from behind her hand as if she were going to tell him a secret. "You're girlfriend used to kill people for a living."

Shizuo face balks with surprise, enough to jar his glasses, for a moment before shifting to grim seriousness. "You're lying!" He accuses while fixing his shades.

But the brunette pulls away with a breathy chuckle and places a finger to her chin. "That look on your face tells me that your noooot exactly sure about that. Maybe all those lose dots are finally connecting in a pretty, perfect picture?" She crows, shifting from foot to foot like a child before straightening. "But if you don't believe me, take it up with her." She produces a hotel business card out of thing air and hands it to the disgruntled blonde. "Room 314."

The blonde man's expression flashes with surprised realization and just before the brunette is gone shouts, "Wait!" The young woman stops and looks over her shoulder. "Why are you giving this to me?"

The brunette shrugs. "Things are about to get very bad in Ikebukuro city Shizu-chan. People like _us_ need to stick together." She says, with a smile that, though sweet, looks nothing of the sort. "If she asks how you found her, tell her Dakota sent you." She adds in departure and then is gone into the night of the city like an apparition.

Shizuo looks after her for a moment longer and then the card before stuffing it and his hands into his pockets and heading back over to Celty.

_:Who was that?: _The dullahan asks and Shizuo just shrugs.

"A friend of Nausika's." Shizuo replies and can tell that Celty is surprised. "Hey, can we make another stop real quick."

* * *

It's not a long trip on Celty's bike that gets Shizuo to where he wants to go. And he's thankful that the black rider doesn't ask and doesn't attempt to follow him when he goes into the hotel.

He needs to be alone for this right now.

He stares at the wooden door with the golden number 314 for a long time, conflicted on knocking. He wants just going back out to Celty and looking for the Slasher some more, leave her alone, hopes she comes to him when she's ready, hopes she's not even there at all. But before he realizes it he's already knocked and can hear the sound of footsteps from the other side.

He knows he's here to see Nausika. But still when that door opens and she's standing there in front of him his heart and stomach plummet to the floor.

She was here. That girl had been telling the truth. So that means….

"Sh-Shizuo?!" She stammers and he's not sure what she looks more, surprised or terrified.

"Dakota told me where to find you." He says evenly in a cool, distance manner even to his ears.

And all she can respond with is, "Oh." Still with a deer in the headlights expression on her face.

Shizuo sighs heavily. "She also told me….about your past." He can't bring himself to say it. He just…can't.

The blue highlighted blonde's eyes flash wide for a second before she looks down dejectedly. "Shizuo…I…now isn't a good time."

Shizuo flinches behind his shades, feeling slightly offended and hurt to be practically brushed off in such a way. Now wasn't a good time? What kind of answer was that?

A long awkward silence passes between the couple before the sound a male voice speaking in English from the other room breaks. Shizuo looks up from the floor to see the man from earlier appears in his boxer briefs with a towel around his neck.

"Oh shit…." Cowboy mutters as he sees the rage cloud Shizuo face as he zeros in on him just before he's slammed into a wall. "What the fuck are you doing?!"

"What am I doing?! What the hell are you going here alone with her?! Are you trying to fuck _my_ girlfriend?!" Shizuo roars at him as he slams the not so small American into the wall again. Face twisted in murderous anger as he pulls a fist back to crush his head like a grape.

"Shizuo no, stop!" Nausika shouts as she latches onto his arm to physically stop him. "Shizuo don't! It's not what you think! Cowboy's gay!"

Shizuo's about to turn on her when her cries sink in. "What…?" He says in wide eyed confusion and frozen in place.

"Yep, I'm my own Brokeback Mountain. So you mind putting me down? Or, you know, maybe pin me with something else?" Cowboy says with a wink that makes Shizuo flush comically as he drops him.

He looks ready to say something catty from his position on the floor but Nausika cuffs the smirking man upside the head. She says something to him in English and judging by his retort and exit not long after getting pants it must have been to leave.

"So…" The female blonde says, sitting on the end of the hotel couch.

"So…." Shizuo repeats and sits down on the other end sullenly. He flinches as the silence once again settles in the room. It's never been this awkward for them. Not even when they first met and he accused her of being with Izaya. Not once. But finally he gets up the courage and is able to mutter a composed, "Why?"

And Nausika shrugs. "Opportunity knocked at a time when all the doors were closing. And with no light at the end of the tunnel you'll take a flash light to keep you going."

* * *

_It's a clear September day that finds the Yumi sister outside on the curb with their things in front of what used to be their house. They're waiting for a car to pull up and take them away._

_"Onee-san, what are we going to do now?" Chidori asks innocently, her tiny hand still latched to her sisters and the other on the strap of her teddy bear backpack._

_"I don't know Chidori. We'll think of something." Nausika tells her and squeezes her hand a little. She doesn't know what to do. And what fourteen year old would at a time like this. What kid knows the answers when your mother is dead and social services is coming to take you away?_

_She wishes she could say she was surprised that she found their mother dead on their living room floor, with a needle in her arm and an overdose in her veins, but she's not. She honestly, tragically, thinks that she's more surprised it didn't happen sooner. Nausika has spent her lifetime trying to get her up off the floor, or to throw up the pills she took, or turn her over so she would choke on her own vomit, or give her mother CPR when she stopped breathing._

_But that was the problem with junkies. They were constantly an inconvenience. They didn't have the good decency to die when you wanted them to or stick around when you needed them._

_"I don't want to go to the orphanage Onee-san! I'm scared!" Chidori almost squeaks with tears rimming her eyes. She's only ten, but she's sharp for ten. Nausika knows that she knows that it's not normal for her big sister to do all the things she does for their small family, or that their father only visits once a month or so with money and spends the majority of his visit in the bedroom with mommy, or what their mother does. But she doesn't know that Chidori also has a feeling that it could be worse. It could be much worse without a sister like Nausika, who shoulders the burden and the bruises their mother leaves them. _

_Who will look out for her if Nausika gets taken away? _

_Who will look out for Nausika if she gets taken away?_

_"My, what sad looks for such pretty faces." The sisters look up from their shoes at the man in an expensive suit looking down on them. "My condolences for your loss, both of them really." He says and Nausika glares at him._

_"Who are you?" The blonde spits harshly. No one around here knew who their father was. That was the point of him moving them here. So the fact that he knows who he is and that he's dead alarms her._

_The man doesn't seem intimidated though. In fact, he seems assumed by his chuckle. "My name is Daisuke Ashida. I'm a friend of your father. Well, more of a friend of your grandfather." He tells her with a venomous smirk._

_Nausika squeezes her sister's hand tight enough to make the smaller girl flinch. "Onee-san…." Chidori says quietly in confusion._

_"Don't worry little girl, I'm not here to kill you. Your grandfather is damn near his death bed too. The bastards of a Yukuza don't concern him." Daisuke tells her._

_"What do you want then?" Nausika demands and his smile widens._

_"I've come to offer you salvation little one." He says, holding out his arms for a moment dramatically before returning them to his pockets. "I, like your father, run a specific kind of business for the underworld. Except, mine is more internationally known."_

_"You deal in drugs and whores too?" Nausika asks in a blank tone and Daisuke laughs heartily._

_"No, no, that kind of filth isn't for me. No offense to your father. No, I deal in more of a….cleaning service if you will."_

_"Cleaning service?" The blonde queries and the man in the suit smirks again._

_"There are stains on this world little one, stains that need to be removed. People hire my people to get rid of them."_

_"What does that have to do with us?"_

_"A little bird told me a story about you two. I want you to come work for me. I have a lot of people working for me. Some people even just like you." He tells her and Nausika scoffs bitterly._

_"Just like us, hn?" There weren't people like her and her sister. Who else could be impervious to injury and tell the future with mind's eye. They were alone in the world. All they had was each other._

_"Is that so hard to believe that there are other people like you?" Daisuke asked with that grin he had that made Nausika feel like he wanted to eat her. Literally eat her. "But come see for yourselves if you don't believe me. And I promise, if you come work for me, you and your sister will never have to worry about being separated. I doubt the orphanage can promise you that. And besides, apart from 'roaming' the street, what other options are left to you?"_

_"Onee-san…?"Chidori says with pleading, fretful eyes. And in that moment it's up to Nausika to again make the important decisions._

_"Alright."_

* * *

"Daisuke was true to his word. We were never separated and we always worked as a team. I didn't really mind. Despite the nature of it, we were never in any real danger and the money was good. The people I was called for were generally bad people. It sounds cruel but I was really doing the world a favor by sending them on their way. I wasn't for 'domestic' life, just wasn't for me. And we kept on like that for a while. Up until…."

"What?" Shizuo prods cautiously.

"A member named Vitalia killed my sister." Nausika hands twist painfully as she sneers angrily. "I told her to wait for me! Why didn't she wait for me? Fucking psychic and couldn't see her own death!" Teal eyes cloud over with angry, hot tears but are startled away when she's suddenly enveloped in a sudden tight, fierce hug.

"I'm sorry." Shizuo mutters into her hair and Nausika can feel the angry sorrow in her dissipate, if only just a little. "So why did you stay?" He asks as he releases her.

Nausika shrugs a little. "I met you. And suddenly domestic life didn't seem so bad." She replies and looks at Shizuo with a sad sort of smile.

And it's then that he realizes, really realizes, that this _is_ the real Nausika.

The fun loving, horribly sarcastic, caffeine addicted, insomniac, who steals the covers and bakes him sweets and eats the vegetables he doesn't like out of the salads she makes him eat. She's the woman who gives him all her green Skittles because she hates them but knows he loves them. Who listens to music in English and loves it because even though he can't understand the words he loves to hear her sing along. And the one who carries around a lighter now just in case he forgot his. She's one of maybe three people who has never gotten mad at him for his strength or his faults. And the only person who's ever loved him.

She loves him.

She loves him.

And he loves her.

It's a start to the blonde when Shizuo suddenly leans in and kisses her just as fiercely as his hug. And it's quick, as if he had done it like the hug on accident. But it's enough to let her know what he's feeling and that's enough for now.

"So…are we ok?" She asks finally. Almost sounding kind of hopefully and Shizuo smiles a little that for once it's not him.

"Yeah, I think so." He replies and leans heavily against his knees. "I mean…this will take some getting used to. It's sort of a big deal. But… you don't do that anymore right?" Shizuo glance over at the other blonde who's staring at her hands and furrows his brow at her before prodding. "Right?"

"One more job and then I'm done."

"Nausika!-"It's Vitalia." She interjects and his scolding air does a 180.

"WHAT?! That bitch is still alive! She's _here_!"

"Apparently, that's why Dakota and Cowboy are here." Nausika explains, cleaning out the ringing in her ears from his shouting before mutter. "Crazy bitch. I leave her be and she tries to blow me up for it! When I'm done with her I'm gonna burn her body and those stupid red boots to make sure she's dead!"

"Wait? Red boots? Does Dakota wear red boots too?" Shizuo asks while scratching the back of his head in confusion.

"What?" She asks in confusion and is about to ask him what the hell he's talking about when she is interrupted when her new cell vibrates on the table. Seeing the ID name Cowboy pop up, she sighs heavily and picks it up. "What do you want Cowboy?"

"Hello little rabbit…."


	20. Return of the Slasher

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

* * *

"Hello little rabbit." The sickeningly sweet voice, laced with madness, flitters through the ear piece of the phone and Nausika's blood runs cold.

"Hello Vitalia." She greets fridgely, ignoring Shizuo dramatic flinch at the mention of her name. "Where's Cowboy?"

"If you're asking if he's dead, the answer is no. Although I did propel the mongrel into a wall pretty hard, so the answer maybe yes." Vitalia replies casually. Nausika can just picture her sitting somewhere looking positively regal in her opinion of superiority, looking at her manicured nails or twirling her inky black hair as if she doesn't have a care in the world.

"So you weren't trying to kill him, otherwise he would be dead. So what _do _you want?" The blonde asks sharply. She doesn't want to play into her hand.

Vitalia wasn't like the rest of them, who were quick to settle things and move on. No, she was much more like a housecat. She could kill you, but she would much rather play with you first. She thinks her greatest achievement to date is when she drove a man to madness to the point that he just killed himself to get away from her. In hindsight, maybe that had been the first sign that something was _off_ about the raven beauty.

There's a little chuckle over the phone before Vitalia speaks again, "Oooo…Onee-san is so stingy."

"Don't you dare say that!" Nausika snaps angrily and she know, she _knows_, that it's a bad idea to get so worked up over that with her. But it's already too late.

"Ooops pushed a button." Vitalia was found her crack. And like the ice that runs through her veins, she'll worry at it until the wall in Nausika breaks. "Does it bring back _painful_ memories Tokyo-san? 'Onee-san, Onee-san, I'm cold. I'm dying Onee-san. Help me!' "

The mocking words send Nausika over the edge and she growls in rage before when she smashes the cell into the coffee table in blind fury, the weak sound of plastic being strand almost to breaking echoing back. At this rate, her new prepaid won't last long.

"What happened?!" Shizuo asks in concern and the blonde at his side takes a moment to literally scrub the anger off her face with her hands before shooting up.

"Vitalia got Cowboy." The blonde replies and Shizuo balks in surprise again. "She says he isn't dead, but he's probably damn near close. I have to find them." She continues while throwing on her jacket.

"Ok, let's go." The bodyguard says and is prepared to head out the door with her when a hand shots out to his shoulder.

"I'll call you when this is over." She tells him coolly, and Shizuo's brow furrows in confusion.

"Nausika I can help-"No." She cuts off quickly and her hand drops from his shoulder and into her pocket. "I can't have you around me right now. You'll honestly be more of a problem than help."

Her voice is cold and devoid of emotion, blank like her eyes. It hurts those teal eyes that he loves so much cold and lifeless staring back at him. It hurts almost as much as being brushed aside like he's useless and that she doesn't give a damn.

_This must be Tokyo._ He thinks. But distinguishing between the two personas doesn't help the ache he feels. Useless, unwanted….

Nausika's mouth opens as if she had planned to say something but loses the thought. Shizuo thinks for a moment he she's her eyes flashes with a spark of regret or the Nausika he knows, but it's quickly washed away in hard steel again.

They leave together, but the space between them seems light years apart rather than just a few feet.

Outside Nausika spots Celty's yellow helmet and she dashes over to her quickly.

"Celty, did you see a guy this tall with sandy brown hair come out this way?"

The dullahan seems startled for a moment by the blonde's sudden appearance, but starts typing. _:Nausika?! What are you…Yeah, I think I saw him head that way.: _Celty tells her, pointing down the street and the blonde spares her a quick nod before dashes off in that direction.

The black rider and the ex-bartender watches as a yellow jacket fades away, until finally Shizuo speaks with a gruff, "Come on lets go." He then he's back on Celty's bike behind her, not caring about his helmet or personal safety right now.

He hears the taping of Celty's keys before she half turns around toward him. _:Is everything all right?:_

Shizuo looks down from the PDA then off into the distance again briefly. "No, everything's fine." He assures, but he's not really sure who he's trying to convince. Himself or Celty.

The dullahan says nothing, but revs up the bike and speeds off into the night.

Shizuo is too lost in thought to care about the blurred scenery.

It's weird, he thinks, this distance that is suddenly between them that wasn't there before. That had never been there before. But this is a pretty big thing that she's kept from him. He gets why, but now that it's out there his perception of her has still changed. Yes, she's still Nausika. Yes, he still loves her. But can he continue to love her knowing what she's done? He wants to think that when this is over they'll go back to the way things were, but can't seem to hope for that.

The ever pessimist in him keeps wondering: Could things go back to the way that they were? Could they?

Suddenly, Celty's helmet turns to the side and the bike makes an abrupt sharp u-turn in the middle of the street.

"What now?!" Shizuo asks in mid turn, but gets no response as the bike roars in the odd mixture of engine and horse before it barrels back the other way. "Hey, where you going?!"

* * *

Nausika dashes down the street, sharp eyes darting around looking for any sign of Cowboy or Vitalia. She tries very hard to not think about how she just shoved Shizuo aside like he was garbage.

She knew it was a harsh move. But it had to be done. He wouldn't listen any other way and he couldn't be near her right now. He _would_ be too much of a distraction; she's worry too much about keeping him safe. And she couldn't risk it when she was dealing with Vitalia.

Vitalia had already gotten to him once, so she had to know his importance to her. And until Nausika knew what she was after she couldn't risk her using him as bait. She had already once lost the most important person in her life that way. She wasn't going to let it happen again.

The blonde stops suddenly as she hears a groan coming from down the street. She zeros in on the slumped over hump of a man attempting, and failing, to stand. Until she recognizes the tribal lotus on the man's wrist when he finally sits up right does she snap into action, shouting "Cowboy!"

The junior looks up through his bangs at her as she runs over to him, swiping a hand over his face and groaning when he comes back red. "Aww fuck…Is that my blood?" He asks stupidly, one eye closed from the blood running down his face as he looks up at the wall his back is against that is also bleeding his blood. He suddenly groans again and uses one arm to grasp the other limp at his side. "She broke my arm."

"I'm sure she broke more than that, but don't be a baby. Can you stand?" Nausika asks seriously, holding out her hand to him. The brunette glares up at her, but takes the offered hand with a repressed moan as he's hulled to his feet.

"You know, you could be a _little _more sensitive to those of us who actually have to suffer injury and not just fools." Cowboy mutters snarkily. A sharp, painful howl cuts through the night and the man clutches his broken arm with grit teeth as he doubles over in pain.

"Oh no, looks like I accidently punched you in your broken shoulder. My bad." Nausika drones stoically.

"Bitch!"

"Excuse me, is he alright?" The blonde whips around to see a meek looking girl with thick glasses staring at them peculiarly. She remembers her as the girl in that high school group that always comes into Russia Sushi. _Anna, Aki, Able…._

"He'll be fine. He's stronger than he looks." She replies in a friendly front. Knowing her name isn't important right now. They're about to leave and forget about her in a second.

"Hey boss, my spidy senses are tingling." Cowboy suddenly mutter in English behind her and Nausika spares a look back at his serious face before his chin juts ahead to a haphazard looking man in a trench coat.

"Can we help you old man?" Nausika barks towards the intruder.

As the man comes further out of the shadows she can see he was a knife in his hand and glowing red eyes looking back at them.

_Red eyes…Saika! There's more than one?! No, no, no!_ Nausika fretful thoughts are cut off just as abruptly as the man when a van slams into him.

"The fuck!" Cowboy shouts for the groups' collective thought.

"You guys ok?" A voice asks from the van as it's riders step out into the street.

"Kyohei?" Nausika asks in confusion and the man in question gets a confused look when he sees her.

"Nausika? What are you doing out here? Is Shizuo around?" Kyohei asks while looking around but seeing no bartender.

"Uh no, he-"Aw man, he dead." Erika suddenly interjects as their group head down to where the man had skidded to stare at the seemingly lifeless body on the ground.

"Aw man, Kyohei! Now look at what you've done! What's gonna happen to that sweet beautiful life I just told you about?!" Walker rants in panic. But he has every right to. They did just run over someone in their van.

Conversation goes back and forth for a bit, but Nausika can't hear and doesn't pay attention.

_This guy….I know I saw red eyes. And this feeling is the same as with that girl. But Shinra said that Saika was the culprit behind the Slasher's craziness. Could there be more than one? Do they pass it back and forth? Could this blade have the same abilities as that girls and when it cuts me-_

Nausika's thoughts are suddenly cut off when the man is back on his feet. His knife is also back in his hands, swinging it wildly. Not wildly like the girl on that night had been, but really just all over the place. Perhaps getting hit with a van wasn't the best thing for him.

The man then bursts through Kyohei's group, none of them try to stop him with his knife swinging like that, and dashes at the three of them.

"Run!" Kyohei shouts but Nausika can only think to side step in front of the terrified girl as the man jets toward them.

She thinks if she times it right she can get a good kick into him and regrets not having brought any kind of weapon from the hotel. And it's the first time since she's moved here that she wishes she had her guns.

But before she can land a strike, the man is suddenly upper cutted by the wheel of a bike that seems to come down from space and he's suddenly back from where he came.

The small crowd slowly turns to see Celty and Shizuo silhouetted in the bright light of the van's high beams.

Nausika stares in awe of them, surprised once again that Shizuo is suddenly there for her.

"You ok?" The gruff words come back over Shizuo shoulder, but he doesn't look back at her. She can tell he's still angry, still hurt, by her. And it aches in her chest, but she can't afford to feel remorseful right now.

She'll make it up to him later when this is done. If he still wants her when this is done anyway….

"Dotca-chin look!" Erika cries in terror as the man makes another impossible recovery and stands to his feet.

"Hello, you're Shizuo Heiwajima. I was looking for you. Shizuo, Shizuo, Shizuo, I love you so, so, so, so much Shizuo." The crazed man says while wildly swinging his knife.

Shizuo steps forward, unswayed by his words and mutter a rough. "Fine, you're dead."

The man laughs manically and the corner of Shizuo mouth juts up a little as he walks back to the group.

"Kyohei, I'm borrowing your door." He announces before gripping his fists into the metal of the sliding door and pulls it free from the van. He steadies himself and, using the door as a battering ram, dashes at the man in full force until his body crushes into the light post behind him.

"Whoa…changed my mind. You can have him." Cowboy mutters in English to Nauiska in terrified, bewildered awe of the blonde's strength.

The blonde smirk pointedly at him, "He's not you're type anyway." He replies proudly. Of what she isn't sure, but she'd really hate to have to break something else in her longtime friend if he kept trying to make moves on her man.

"So, what are we supposed to do with this guy?" Kyohei asks finally

"I'm a little more concerned about _me_ at the moment. Crazy bitch found us _way_ too quick. But, boo for that guy." Cowboy, in trademark self-centeredness, announces.

"You know what; somethin' just doesn't feel right to me. Why is that?" Shizuo says from a distance, getting everyone's attention as he takes a long drag of his smoke. "I'm off to Shinjuku to kill Izaya." He says in departure as he heads down the street.

Nausika look at him dejectedly, resisting the urge to go after him. _Shizuo…_

"Oh man! This is so cool! Shizu-chan totally has the hots for Izaya! Boy on boy love is so much fun, I love it!" Erika gushes in starry eyed glory, much to everyone's cringe.

"Not happenin'!" They collectively shout.

"Besides, a major plot hole in that delusion of yours is standing right behind you." Kyohei mentions while jutting his thumb to Nausika, who waves.

"Nausika-chan doesn't mind do you?!"

"Yeah, Nausika-chan, you don't mind do you." Cowboy repeat with a cheeky grin after Erika's gushing before doubling over in pain.

"Oh no, seems I accidently punched you in your broken ribs this time. My bad."

"Hey man, you ok? You look like you took one hell of a beating." Kyohei says seeming to just realize Cowboy was there. But the man in question just shrugs with his good shoulder.

"Wasn't so much of a beating as a lift and a twist and a toss into a wall." He replies and though Kyohei doesn't get it, he decides not to ask.

_:We should take him to a doctor. Or maybe Shinra-_"Out of the question." Nausika interrupts, startling Celty with her coldness.

"What's a Shinra?" Cowboy asks again in English, getting Nausika's attention.

"He's not a what, he's a who. He's a doctor." She corrects.

"So why can't I see him?" The light brunette asks with a miffed sort of pout, like a child told he can't go to the zoo.

Nausika sighs heavily. "I don't want them to get involved." She tells him and Cowboy just smile cryptically at her.

"I think it's a little late for that love." He tells her and a silent conversation passes between the two before she finally gives in.

"Fine…." She mutters back in Japanese. It really is for the best to go to Shinra. With what they're dealing with, and who they are, his profession is what's required. Besides, hospitals do keep surprisingly detailed records of their patients.

"We can give you a lift if you want." Kyohei offers, ignoring Saburo's shouts of 'in what?!' since his precious van has been brutalize.

"Thanks. It would be a great help." Nausika replies and is startled when a black helmet comes into her line of vision.

She gives Celty a long look before taking the gear and putting it on. The inside smells like Shizuo hair and his cigarettes. And she wants to believe that the dullahan didn't do that on purpose.

* * *

It's a long walk to Shinjuku on foot. But Shizuo decided that it's for the best. He needs a minute to cool off some before he sees Izaya. If he had met him at the level he had been at when he had left, coupled with the most definite level of pissed off he'll be when he actually _sees_ the flea, he really would kill Izaya.

"What up? Izaya _buddy_!" Shizuo says up at the building the infamous informant lives when he gets there. The automatic doors swish open when he walks into the lobby. But he's too angry to worry about the nice building the flea lives in. "Why don't 'cu come on out and play?!" About to kick the door to something in, Shizuo freezes when a cold object is placed against his neck.

The blonde flips around, the cold can against him plummeting to the floor, and the man himself smirks back at him.

"Tell me, to what to I owe this pleasure Shizu-chan?" Izaya asks in a cheeky manner, hands in his ever present jacket.

"I'm obviously here to kick your smarmy little ass!" The bodyguard snaps, encroaching on the shorter man.

"And why do I deserve to have my ass kicked?"

"Cause I'm pissed off!"

"Now don't you think you're a little too old to be acting the part of the playground bully…Shizu-chan?" Izaya scolds, gaining the desired effect when the blonde bristles.

"Shut the hell up!" Shizuo snaps, watching Izaya like a hawk as he saunters away. "So, how involved in this are you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Izaya replies, feigning innocence.

"You're in with the Slasher, but I want to know how deep. And I know it was you that gave that psycho Nausika's address to try and blow her up!" The blonde barks, but the flea merely chuckles.

"That's a horrible accusation." Izaya replies with a grin, but distinctively not denying it.

"99% of the time whenever violent, random crap happens you're somehow involved!" The tall blonde retorts.

"And you can't have a little faith in that last one percent?" Izaya asks, while his blade similtaniously falls from his sleeve into his hand. "Guess that's..a no." He says with a wink as the blade his flicked open.

Shizuo grins murderously at him and the two takeoff out onto the street.

Izaya flitters back, blade draw to cut Shizuo should he come closer. But to the brunette's surprise the ex-bartender calmly walks past him and to the guard rail by the street. Then the taller man his yanking at the metal object forcablely.

At first, nothing happens. Then the bolts in the railing pop out like tiny bullets as the metal gives and Shizuo has the whole thing in his hands.

"Seriously…" Izaya mutters to himself in surprise, but quickly steels himself and his blade again as Shizuo turns to him with a roar and railing in hand.

But before he can swing the large piece, that Izaya is sure even at that distance would send him flying, a black bike zooms in between them and breaks up the fight effectively.

"Well now,"

"Celty? What are you here?" Shizuo asks after Izaya, his anger forgotten. Celty dismounts her bike and jogs over to him to show the taller man her PDA and the continuous, maddening scrolling on it from user Saika. "What the hell is this?" He asks in concern. "Is this part of your plan too?" He asks the informant who shrugs.

"Look, if I knew this was all it would take to get Celty to show up on my door step, then trust me I would have dropped a meteor on your house a long time ago." The brunette replies truthfully. Had he a meteor to drop, he would have dropped it on his house just for kicks. But sadly, he had none.

Shizuo huffs angrily, but accepts the black helmet when Celty tosses it to him. And then the two are off like a black streak into the night.

"Unbelievable," Izaya mutters as he watches them go. "One moment, he's dumb as an ox. And the next, he's sharp as a whip. And it's for that very reason that I hate him so much." He says to no one with a vicious smirk.

The informant then returns into his apartment building and flops himself into the elevator, using the toe of his shoe to summon his floor. _'My, what an interesting turn things have come to.'_ The informant this with a twisted grin while he hums a cheery tune before the elevator chimes and the doors whoosh open.

The dark haired man continues to hum as he exits and enters his apartment/office, but stops once his coat has been removed as humming not in tandem with his echoes back.

"You seem in a very chipper mood." Izaya comments he slips his hands into his front pockets and further into his apartment, not bothering to bring up the fact that when he had left earlier the place had been empty and locked. At this point, as with dealing with her he's learned quickly, it was pointless.

The welcomed, but uninvited guest seems to pay him no mind as her finger tips dance on the game board in front of her. Until finally, she feels the need address him. He also won't comment on who this is his house that she's treating him like an intruder in. "Well, I am in a chipper mood. You seem pleased with yourself too." The red eyed sprite on his couch coos, as if they are old friends that hadn't just met a few days ago.

"Hmm…Shiz-chan just came to play with me." Izaya says, sliding up against the back of the couch to stop behind her. If this is how he wants to play, so be it. "He accused me of being involved with the Slasher and some lunatic trying to blow up his precious Nausika-kun." Izaya continues in a thoughtful manner, fiddling with the busted cellphone he's discovered on his entry table. Left there like a cat that puts dead birds on the stoop to be praised for their conquest.

Vitalia hums in amusement. "My…what a mystery…" She drones cheerfully, placing the black queen chess piece in front of its white counterpart before resting her chin in her hands in childlike glee at the board. "I like this game."

"You don't know how to play." Izaya reminds her, but the red eyed raven just beams.

"Sure I do! I just made up the rules, isn't that the point."

Izaya chuckles low in his throat and leans in on the perched brunette, brushing the thick mass of black hair to one side so that the side of her neck is exposed. "Aren't you a clever little peach." He praises against her ear and can sense the smirk that stretches her ruby red lips.

"By the way, I need another favor."

The informant frowns slightly and leans back. "Another favor?"

"Hai, just a little one." Vitalia says, squinting one eye through the space between her thumb and forefinger. "I can pay you your real fee this time, since I've run out of interesting information about Tokyo-san. Or perhaps you'd take another type of payment for your services." The pixie is suddenly up on her knees on the couch with her arms around his neck, back arched provocatively, and smolder in her eyes as she leans into him.

Izaya smiles. "Cash will do." He says, dislodging her arms and ignoring her exaggerated pout. "Though I am surprised you need my help again. I was under the impression that, since you were a 'higher being' you didn't need the help of us 'silly mortals'" He adds while taking his seat behind his desk. He was quoting the terms verbatim from her. She had been very forthright in her declaration of being a 'higher being' upon their meeting.

Vitalia merely chuckles. "I'm god-like, not God. I'm not all knowing and all powerful. Unfortunately my abilities only extend to superior intelligence, impressive skills in mayhem, and exquisite bone structure." She tells him while sashaying over to him.

"What do you want?" Izaya asks at his screen and isn't surprised when her arms wrap around his shoulders from behind.

"Everything you know and can find about a sword called Saika."

* * *

_Sorry for the delay in updating...again. _

_Thanks to Emerald Gaze, Amaya rawrz , flyfly246, gzillafan, and guests for reviewing the previous chapter (not a lot last time but every review is special!) and those that favorited/followed previously ^_^._

_I would greatly appreciated feedback on this chapter as with all chapters. I need to go pass out from my flu-aids now._

_Thanks for reading!_


	21. Goodbye, Shizuo Heiwajima!

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_A/N: I apologies in advance for the delay in updating. I got distracted and needed to take a small break. Plus, I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep this chapter, but eventually conceded. More, slightly, AU. Just giving you a heads up so no one is surprised. Well, by that anyway..._**

* * *

It had been a very long night. Between school, the Slasher, and learning the headless rider was indeed headless Anri was worn out. But her body was still too riled to lie down and rest. So instead she just sat on the edge of her bed, thinking about her life and her day in an endless circle until her doorbell chimes through the apartment and her thoughts.

"Is that…Celty?" She asks herself, finding the late hour odd for visitors.

The young girl shuffles towards the door and attempts to see who it is through the peep hole. But she can't. The corridor is dark and her guest is shrouded in shadows. So the only logical, idiotic thing to do was open the door.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Anri asks the smirking black hair woman she doesn't know at her door.

"Hello…little rabbit."

The door is pushed open by the guest's hand and Anri stumbles back from the sudden force. "W-who are you?" She stammers again from the floor as the inky haired visitor grins down at her with an almost manic gaze.

"Me? I'm Vitalia. I'd ask for your name, but I really don't care." She replies, waltzing in as if she owned the place.

"V-Vitalia?" Anri questions and the older woman seems to get a chuckle out of her trying to pronounce the Italian name.

"Do you like my name? I gave it to myself. My old name was so boring! This one means vital of life. I think it's more fitting." Vitalia replies as though she is very proud of herself for no reason.

But Anri is still frightful of this intruder with the manic smile. "Y-you shouldn't be here. Please leave."

Her quaking demand falls on deaf ears and another chuckle. "I am from a much higher plain of existence and far too advanced to be chained by the rules of lesser beings. And I'd rather stay." Vitalia crouches down so that she is now eye level with the younger brunette. Anri tries futilely to gain space between them but, on the floor and against the fall, she has nowhere to run as Vitalia's crimson eyes look at her in scrutiny. "So _you're_ where my prize has been hiding. All these years and it hasn't made a peep. That says something about you. Maybe you aren't such a lesser being." She says, caressing the younger girls cheek in an affection it manner.

"W…What are you doing? Please get off of me!" Anri pleads. Her head making a loud thud sound when it snaps away and back into the wall.

Vitalia just laughs again with a soft smile. "Even in the face of mortal danger you're still so polite. Maybe you are a lesser being for caring about such trivial things." She ponders aloud and Anri's eyes go wide. "Ah, I see you caught that part. Yes, you see you have something that belongs to me. Or rather, it should belong to me. So I've come to take its _burden_ from you. Now why don't you be a good little rabbit and hand it over. Or I can't rip it from you with your spine." Her threat is added ferocity with her sneer and a long, pale hand clasped around the girl's throat.

Anri's eyes twist shut in fear but when they snap open they glow red with purpose. Saika manifests in her hand and she strikes in blind will to survive. But the blade doesn't reach its target. It stops in midair, like its hit a wall, near the smirking raven haired girls face.

"So this is Saika then? Funny, I thought it would be…bigger." Vitalia says, running her finger down the flat side of the blade in something a keen to a caress until she reaches the hilt. "Let go now little rabbit. Hand it over to me."

Anri doesn't want to. But something is forcing her to comply. She tries to keep her grip on the blade. Saika shakes with the force of her will to hold on, but her hand seems to have a will of its own and releases the blade.

"Very good little rabbit! Don't worry; I'll take very good care of my new blade." Vitalia says with a twisted grin that sends chills down Anri's spine before she's suddenly being pinned down, her limbs stuck to the wall. Her throat is constricted so she can't scream. But Vitalia isn't touching her anymore. She's moved back on to her heels as if to appreciate her prey bound before her by invisible arms holding her down. It's as if her eyes have crucified her to the wall. "And since you did such a _good_ job keeping Saika safe for me, I've decided not to kill you; as a token of my gratitude. However," now she leans down and Anri shivers as it feels like snakes are crawling over her with her words before another thud sounds through the apartment. Louder than the last time and Anri slumps limp to the ground. "I can't have you telling that Celty person that I have this or anyone else right now. What would be the fun in that? My triumphant scene would be over before it began!" Vitalia preaches to no one, as though some grave injustice had been done, before looking back at the sword the shouts unheeded words of desperate love in her mind. "Now…let's take this baby for a spin."

* * *

Shizuo doesn't ask where they're going, but Celty seems to know where they're headed. It the dead of night Shooter sprints back across the city to Ikebukuro and they eventually stop at South 'bukuro Park.

It's quite and empty.

Then crowd begins to gather around them. And not just a small crowd either. A sea of glowing red eyes floods that park like the tide is coming in.

Shizuo's spine itches with that odd feeling he gets when the Slasher or Celty is around. That feeling he can't explain when something not right or of this world is around. He also has that gut feeling he gets when Izaya is around. Which is bad, because usually when he gets it it means something bad is about to happen.

"I've been looking for you, Shizuo Heiwajima." A ganguro* girl, who looks in her senior year of high school, says as she steps forth from the crowd. "You really are wonderful. Just like mother says. Everyone here knows that you are the one that defeated our sisters. Gotta love the internet." She deadpans with a grin.

Shizuo isn't sure what she's talking about. He's beaten up a lot of people but he does remember beating up any girls. Maybe it was a general term? That guy he crushed with Kyohei's door for ranting about how he loved him had red eyes like her. He does feel kind of bad about that, but with everything going on he was not in the mood to hear someone say that they love him.

"At first it was difficult for our collective conscious to adjust and learn your human language. But now, our minds are just as well formed as our mothers." She continues before smiling madly with a swinging around a butterfly knife that appears in her hand. "Now come on Shizuo! Show everyone here just how strong you are! We're so looking forward to loving you! And neither that monster or the cops can stop us. They'll be way too busy for that! You see this night is just getting started! Because not too far from here, my sisters are out making more sisters! Now how much fun is that?" She crows with an evil grin on her face.

Shizuo dismounts the bike calmly stares and walks towards her and the crowd. Behind him, Celty's shadows form her scythe, ready to strike. He doesn't seem to notice though. Doesn't seem to really care. He just continues to come closer to the crowd until he stops and says, "Can I ask you something?"

"Whatever you'd like?" The possessed girl replies softly, almost gently.

"Why me? Why do you like me so much?"

"'Cause you're so strong." She says still with that odd twisted smile. "Your strength literally has no boundaries. And we would like it for ourselves. All the better to love humanity with. We like someone with good genes the same way you humans do." She explains and Shizuo narrows his eyes at her. "Come on now. Let's just be honest. Odds are a guy like you would never find someone to love him. Except us. We want to love you. Every single one of us."

Shizuo there is a long, tense pause as if the blonde seems to consider her words before he suddenly breaks out into a fit of laughter at the crowd and Celty becomes concerned.

_:Shizuo snap out of it! If things get out of control I'll take care of it! Ok?:_

"No, Celty, That laugh was real. I'm kinda glad about this." He tells her and Celty's head tilts in confusion. "You don't have any idea how much I've hated having this power. I've always been afraid that because of this, no one would ever want me." He confesses, but is smiling. "But I was wrong. And for the first time I get to tell someone that they're wrong. Someone does love me. And her name is Nausika Yumi." He said in almost a triumphant manner before he smiles fondly. "I just think it's funny that apparently the only people who can love me are people who can kill. What do you think's that says about me?"

The lead girl suddenly sneers and the crowd seems to follow. "That girl. That _human! _She doesn't deserve your love! We do! She was selfish and greedy! _She_ wants to keep you for her alone! Is that what you want?! Someone selfish with their love?!"

"Yeah, actually, I do. Because I'm selfish and greedy with hers." Shizuo tells her plainly. "And I'll be damned if I'm gonna let any of you psychos or anyone else touch her again!" Shizuo hisses angrily and the crowd seems to collectively take a step back as he removes his sunglasses. "And by the way, I just want to make one thing clear, _none _of you are my type! Never have been, never will be! I hate you guys! Almost as much, as Izaya!" The blonde roars and then charges into the crowd at full force, unaware that this fight will be much different than the ones he's faced before.

* * *

"Ooooow goddamn it!"

"Don't make a fuss."

"Good lord, you act like you've never had a broken arm before."

"Fuck you two! My arm is _broken_ in _half_ in two places!" Not to mention a rib or two. Many more are bruised in an unseemly fashion, but Dakota and Nausika aren't swayed by Cowboy's plight or shouting.

"I still don't see how a woman that size could do something like this." Shinra comments off handedly as he secures the wrappings around the other male's chest. Nausika had told him everything, within reason, as to why she was bringing an injured man to his doorstep in the middle of the night. And unfortunately, one of those reasons was a petite crazy telepath would had thrown the victim into a wall.

"You ever seen the movie Carrie? Imagine if she practiced." Nausika mutter, while scratching the back of her head.

Dakota nods from her perch on an adjoining table. She had showed up not long ago after Nausika had called. She explained what happened, and told Dakota to salt* the room before coming over. And she was confident in the brunette's abilities to do so, because if there was one thing Dakota was good at it was making sure it looked like she was never there.

"That still seems rather hard to believe. A real live telekinetic? Really?"

"Shinra: you live with a headless Irish fairie, who's been looking for a demonic sword with your super human strength friend, and I am a living breathing etch-a-sketch who's brought two assassins to your door. Have a little faith." Nausika rationalizes.

"Hmmm….I suppose."

"D, I'm not that high right now am I? You heard headless too right?" Cowboy asks the other new comer after the exchange. Dakota just nods again calmly.

"Speaking of which, you should be getting some rest now. All this yelling and carrying on will just aggravate your injuries." Shinra rationalizes before administering a mild anesthetic to his IV. Cowboy makes an effort to protest, but once Shinra's opened the valve in his line, he can only grumble in a slur before he passes out.

"Can I have some of that for when we leave?" Dakota deadpans in a tone that makes the others chuckle.

Nausika gives her a small wave, to which the brunette juts her chin at in understanding, before she heads into the living room with the doctor on her heels.

"He should be fine. It'll take a bit for him to be 100% again, but he's in no real danger." Shinra tells her cheerfully once they reach the living room.

"Thank you for your help Shinra. I'll…I'll make it up to you." The blonde promises over her shoulder at him, a look of deep regret in her eyes.

"You worry too much. Your friend isn't the first hit man I've stitched up. My line of work isn't exactly on the up and up either." He tells her while taking a seat on his couch.

"You seem so calm about this. About everything…." Nausika tells him, staring at her hands laced on her knees when she joins him cautiously.

Shinra smiles softly and places a hand over her tightly clasped ones. "You're a good person Nausika. That's all I need to know. What's important now is that you've left that life behind and began again. The past is the past and we've all made choices we've regretted at one time or another. I'm not going to hold it over your head."

"I'm sure most people don't have the regret of near mass murder on their conscience."

"No, I'm sure they don't." Shinra agrees with a chuckle. "You know, he'll understand too. You don't have to worry." Nausika's head snaps up from her lap to look at the calm, smiling doctor. "Shizuo loves you. Anyone can see that. I'm sure that right now, he's confused but he'll come around." He says, seeming to mistake her concern for matters as concern for how Shizuo would feel about all this. It was an understandable mistake. Her apprehension to discuss the taller man in any regard would lead someone to believe that he was the problem.

"What if…I don't want him to come around?" Shinra's face shifts into an expression off taken aback as the blonde again looks at her hands seriously. "I'm poison Shinra. People die or end up worse than they started when they're around me. They always have. I can't…I can't let that happen to him. Shizuo he…he's so good to me. He's kind and thoughtful and caring. He makes me feel like a _real _person you know. Not just a freak or a product or an asset. And I love him. But maybe that's not enough. It's not enough to keep him safe." She explains painfully then pinches the bridge of her nose with her forefingers. "Maybe it would be better for everyone if I just left."

Shinra opens his mouth to disagree but his protests are quickly cut off when his phone beeps loudly in his pocket. "Oh no!"

"What? What is it?!" Nausika asks in alarm at the outburst from Shinra.

"Saika's army is apparently attacking Shizuo in South Ikebukuro Park." Shinra explains fretfully after reading the message sent form Celty.

The blonde's brow furrows. "Saika's army? The sword has an army?"

Shinra looks up from his phone and sighs while nudging up his glasses. "Sort of, it's complicated. Perhaps 'army' is the wrong word. Maybe children is a better description. But Saika's wish is to spread its 'love' into people. When a person is cut, its influence then spreads into the people, making them possessed as well and forced to do its bidding."

"So the _sword_ told these people to kill Shizuo?!" Nausika questions frantically as she shoots up from the couch.

But Shinra shakes his head, still remarkably calm. "I doubt that's Saika's intent. It wants to love, not kill. And I don't think it really cares who it impresses it's 'love' into. The current possessor of the original probably had that idea on specific targets controlling the others. The people are more like knife wielding puppets to make more knife wielding puppets."

Nausika's eyes snap wide and her face pales as a quiet, whispered "Holy shit…." escapes her mouth before she's leaps over the couch for the door.

"Wait Nausika! When a person is cut their knives become another Saika! Wait!"

* * *

Shizuo fights on and on but opponents keep coming. If he knocks down five, six more stand up. He doesn't seem hindered by this though. In fact he seems to be enjoying it.

Not far away, in the parks cluster of trees, a cat like brunette lounges lazily amongst the branches; yawing loudly as she surveys the scene.

"Aaaaa! This is getting boring." Vitalia says with moan. "I thought this would be much easier than this. I'm severally disappointed in this swords ability to only control lesser beings. Why the hell would I want _them_?" She asks the sword, as if it would actually speak to her, but all she gets in return is the echoing sounds of love that try to reach her mind and heart but can't. "Hmmm…I suppose if you want something done right."

"You get within ten feet of him and I'll put a bullet in your skull!"

Vitalia's eyes widen and flinch to the left before she skitters out of her tree just as a shot rings out in the dark.

"Well, well, look who finally decided to show up. You've become a terrible shot in your retirement by the way." The dark brunette crows with a smirk as her blonde attack steps forward, gun draw on her form.

"It was the courtesy of a warning shot, Vitalia. Stop this now!"

"Stop what?" Vitalia replies like a child caught under the eye of their parents and trying to play dumb with stolen cookies in their hand.

"You know what! You should have given up this _ridiculous_ idea of controlling people after both Rico and Chidori told you no. Call them off!" Nausika demands angrily.

But her threat and wrath are only met with mirthful laughter. "I'd rather not. Though they are slow and dumb like cattle they do sever their purpose. I mean, eventually, if I can't get Plan A to work then Plan B will do just fine."

"Plan B?" The taller woman asks, though fearful of the answer.

Vitalia, however, seem all but giddy to reply. "Plan A was to have Saika's puppets slash my will into him and then I was going to have him use his impressive, freakish, wonderful strength to crush your head like a grape. I thought it was a wonderfully simplistic plan that could do the most damage emotional as well as physically." She says with that maddening crazed smile of hers while tapping Saika against her shoulder as if reminiscent of the thought. "But since beloved Shizuo seems to be of a higher state of being than originally anticipated me thinks I'm just going to have them just cut him into ribbons. Less brilliant, but still effective."

Nausika's face slates cold with anger and she fires again. But the bullet gets stuck in the air before it can reach its target, then falls limply to the ground. The brunette looks at it, then back at its original owner in a bored manner. "Really? This song and dance? Isn't this a bit played Tokyo? We've done this routine before." Vitalia drones critically before her hand flies forward. Nausika braces herself for the force she knows is coming but still can't keep her weapons that are batted away by the invisible smack and scatter away; too far for her to recover without turning her back on Vitalia, a fatal flaw by any means.

Though her opponent is disarmed, the dark haired pixie seems less than pleased with the result. "Oh, right, Chidori's shield is still up. I can't throw you." She says with a sneer before sighing heavily in inconvenience. "Oh well, I guess Plan B will have to work for _everything_ today." Vitalia's inky black hair flares for a moment and Nausika is taken off guard when a large stone trash can crashes into her side like a runaway car, throwing her in its trajectory into the center of the park and its crowd.

"What the hell?!" Shizuo shouts looking wildly over his shoulder as someone comes crashing into the stone courtyard like a meteor before his face balks in surprise. "…Nausika?" He questions, turning around fully as he recognizes the yellow jacket but in disbelief that she's here. The limp form slowly comes up and Nausika's face twist in a grimace as her jaw and body resets. _'What is she doing here?! She can't be here! These freaks will carve her to pieces with those knives!'_ "Nausika!-" Shizuo attempts to warn her to leave but a carving knife suddenly cuts him off when it slice into his turned back and he roars painfully back at his attacker.

"Shizuo!" Nausika cries, shooting up into a crouch at the sound of his cries, roused by his voice originally. The couple shares a look across their respective battle fields, seeming unsure and unbelieving of this odd awful twist their lives have turned..

"Eyes on your own fight pretty boy!" Vitalia warns in midair as she leaps through the air at her prey, ready to bring Saika down and through the blonde, but is blocked suddenly by a katana on her own.

Vitalia's crimson eyes narrow as they struggle at their cross. At another time, when she is not in the middle of a fight, she will remember to be bothered by the idiocy of her new minions for bringing a _katana_ when apparently a kitchen knife would do. But for now, she will marvel in the excitement of being in a samurai-esque fight with her mortal enemy like the movies on the big screen do.

"Nausika!" Shizuo cries again and tries to get to her. But his path his suddenly blocked by a sea of red eyed monsters and their glittering sharp objects. They encroach on him slowly, boxing him in and away from her.

"I'm fine! Handle them!"

The bodyguard's head perks up over the crowd at the sound of Nausika's voice, unafraid and deadly serious, before he turns back on to the crowd with a murderous smirk and new found purpose. "Ahhhhh!"

Nausika smirks at the sound of Shizuo's cry that spurs her own blood and kicks out at Vitalia's feet, knocking her back, before she rolls away. The two assassins duel furiously near, but outside of the possessed crowd. Vitalia doesn't seem to care in the least about the people, willing to spin around this person or that as a shield and making Nausika kick at or bat them away with the flat of her own sword. Their blades spark and clash loudly when they connect. But Vitalia notices something…odd about their fight.

"You're not fighting like you normally do. Dodging and blocking the_ instead_ of facing it? Pour quoi ma chère*?" Nausika says nothing as she grits her teeth at Vitalia, who merely tilts her head to the side before flinching her blade in a quick flash against her neck, causing the blonde to hiss and snap away. "Ho, ho, ho! Oh, this just keeps getting better and _better_!" The petit woman cries with wide eyes and a smile of glee as she sees the blood from the small cut flow down her neck as the wound refuses to close. "I never _dreamed_ that I would have a weapon that could actually _kill you_ in my hands. I'm the luckiest girl in the world."

And like a child that's received everything they've ever wanted from Santa on Christmas, Vitalia dashes towards Nausika with an obvious new goal in her eyes.

Not far away from the battling assassins, Shizuo continues to punch and kick through the endless flood of people wanting to love him. "Oh no! What's that crazy witch doing?!" He thinks out loud as Vitalia's cackling reaches his ears and then screams as another knife cuts deep into his arm, sending its wielder flying. At one point, he stumbles to the ground. The crowd pounces on him like lions on a gazelle to devour them with their rows of knives like teeth.

"What happened? We've carved your love into him, why hasn't he changed?!"

"Once he's been cut he'll open up to us."

"Our minds will flow into him. Into his pain and fear…it's just a matter of time."

"What? Shizuo Heiwajima feels no fear…?"

The crowd chatters in an eerie echo, but Shizuo pays them no mind as he charges forward.

His fists blow them away as it hits the ground, the force of it sending the possessed puppets soaring it all sorts of directions.

_'Look, you bastards got it all wrong. You guys think that no one will ever love me because they'll always be scared of me. That's ridiculous! She…she wasn't scared of me. Hell I was more scared of her. You see the one who's scared is **me**. I'm always afraid that I'll lose control and then screw **everything **up! She was always nice to me, even before I fell in love with her. Maybe I always was? I thought she was too good for me, but now….N__o, you know what? No she's not perfect or normal and is a real pain in the ass right now, but you know what, she's mine!_ _And you know what? There's no way I'm goin' down, in front of the people who **love **me.'_

* * *

_'Shizuo!'_ Nausika thinks, hearing the scream and worried for the worst. He's not like her, and with this enemy it wouldn't much matter. A man can die from a thousand paper cuts. Eventually, all those cuts will add up and become a problem. _'Please don't die before I have a chance to fucking apologies!'_

"You still seem distracted." Vitalia's voice cuts through her thoughts and Nausika's teal eyes snap back to her opponent wielding an impressive frown. "It's no fun if I can _finally_ kill you and you're not even worried about your pathetic life enough to be fearful of it." Nausika says nothing, but the brunette still seems to receive some sort of answer. "Hm, I see. Then allow me to get rid of your distraction."

Ruby lips twist into another crazed grin before her hair flares wildly. The ground under Nausika's feet quake and she's thrown back by the cracked, destroyed pavement. "Nausika! Hey, wh-What the hell?!" Shizuo shouts, fearfully for Nausika but suddenly alarmed as he feels a pull through his chest and he's dragged off his feet across the courtyard to land on his knees in front of Vitalia.

The blonde looks up in surprise at the dark pixie silhouetted in street light that make her red eyes shine as he realizes he can't stand. He can't move. It's like his knees have been bolted to the ground and the rest of him chained heavily to the bolts. "It's been real fun, but unfortunately this is where our story ends." Vitalia says sweetly before her smile turns murderously crazed and she raises Saika poised to run him through. "Goodbye, Shizuo Heiwajima!"

Shizuo's face balks in fear before his eyes close in expectation of the stab.

He hears what he thinks is the sound of the katana running something through, followed by the wet sound of what he guesses is blood splatting the ground.

But…there's no pain.

_'Did I die instantly? No, I'm still breathing. So what….?'_ Shizuo ponders quietly as his eyes slowly reopen before they widen at the sight of a sword tip near is nose. He stumble back off his knees in a start, then his face blanches in terrified surprise as he sees why it's stopped so suddenly.

"N…Nausika….."

Her tall, lean frame fills his vision and that iconic yellow jacket stained with an ever growing red bull's-eye the sword has jousted through fills his vision. The blue highlighted blonde pants heavily for a moment, a task rather difficult with a sword through her body, before she grits her teeth and then, with shaking hands, she grips the blade. She seems ignorant to how her hands bleed around the sharp sword and its maddening record of love as she pulls it out of her. Vitalia's hands fly away from Saika's hilt as if Nausika's touch as set it ablaze, her face just as wide eyed as Shizuo. Like the thought of this outcome had never crossed her mind.

Nausika's throat chokes on a gasp as the sword is pulled free then, after a moment, flips the blade so the hilt is in her hands. "Plan B…" The blonde raises Saika in preparation to strike, but just as it gets over her shoulder her eyes flutter and Saika falls from her grasp as she and plummets to the ground with a loud clatter.

"Nausika!" Shizuo snaps into action, catching the injured blonde before she hits the ground. "Nausika, Nausika! No, no, no! Oh God…Why?! Why would you do that?!" Shizuo demands frantically as he holds her. Blood gushes everywhere. It reminds him of the table. But unlike last time, the wound won't close. And the blood keeps coming and coming.

Nausika scoffs a little with a smile as she looks up at Shizuo. "Because it was going to hit you…. Stupid." Shizuo's face falls before he smiles painfully back at her as he remembers that had been her answer when she had saved him from the car. "Vitalia…."

Shizuo's eyes snap wide and he looks around. "Gone, she's gone, I don't-"Shhh…don't worry about it. If she's not here, she's long gone. It's not important." Nausika interjects softly with a smile, looking up at Shizuo fondly. "Your roots are coming back."

Shizuo laughs a little, thinking it's funny that she's worried about that at a time like this. "Then you'll have to dye it for me again, yeah."

Nausika scoffs and nods slowly. "Yeah…I have to make it up to you…for being such a bitch…" Her voice trails off as her eyes fall closed and her body falling limp in his arms.

"No, no, no! Nausika, stay wake!" Shizuo says in a panic while shaking her in his arms to try and wake her up. "Come on stay wake! We'll get you to Shinra's. He'll fix you up it'll be ok. It'll be ok. It'll be ok." Shizuo's vision blurs for some reason as he continues to shake her but stops suddenly as he sees she's not waking up. "Nausika…" His vision blurs heavily before it clears quickly, hot wet tears sliding down his face.

The spellbound broken crowd slowly hoards around them, confused as to why they're here and what's going on and why grown man is bawling like an idiot in South Ikebukuro Park.

* * *

_So this was really fun. I'm glad everyone enjoyed reading this story. Special thanks to , flyfly246, and gzillafan for reviewing last time and everyone that faved/followed previously._

_Thanks for reading!_

_Also, new chapter for Side Stories is up!_

_*-Derived from the phrase 'salt the earth'. Meaning to leave no trace of live or possibility of it in the future._

_*ganguro is an alternative fashion trend among young Japanese women. Girls tan or fake tan their skin, bleach or dye their hair blonde, pink or silver, and wear very loud colorful make up. Some speculate that the trend is to emulate American women, but there is no real proof of that (especially since no one looks like that in the States)._

_* Pour quoi ma chère- translates from French to 'why my dear?'_


	22. Going Home

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Durarara! or it character. All original characters are of my own design and creation._**

**_A/N: You guys didn't really think that was the last chapter did you?_**

* * *

_Teal eyes open and stare up into a bright blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds._

_Nausika's brow furrows. Wait…wasn't she just in a park? At night? So a blue sky with white clouds was odd to be looking up at right?_

_To add to the odd feeling she also realizes she's lying in a field of tall grass, fanned out like she's about to make a snow angel despite the spring weather. The green blades tickle and irritate her arms and legs, left bare by her white dress, as a gentle breeze brushes past them and through her bangs. She hears birds chirping but, looking around, she sees no birds or trees they could be roosting in to warrant the sound. There are just miles and miles of green grass, blue skies, and gentle breeze._

_"Am I dead?"_

_"No, this is more like limbo." Nausika's eyes widen tenfold and she sits up with a start to look behind her fretfully. "But…it's not limbo…since you're not dead."_

_Nausika's vision blurs again, only this time as tears begin to fill her eyes as she looks at her visitor, dressed in black, hair dark as night, and eyes just as bright as the sky._

_"…Ch…Chidori…?"_

_The younger Yumi beams and waves enthusiastically, even though she's only a few paces away. "Hi Onee-san! Long time no see!" The darker sister then bounds over to her with the sprit more suited for a five year old than someone her age, stopping just before she collided with the blonde._

_"This is a dream." Nausika says in a whisper, reaching a hand out timidly towards Chidori but pulls it back before actually touching her._

_Chidori smiles. "Yeah, basically. But…this is a nice dream. I like it here!" She announces with a curt nod at her decision._

_"If I'm not dead why are you here?"_

_"Because this is** your** dream and you never listen to anyone but me, and I'm here to tell you to go home." Chidori says, clasping her hands behind her back as she sways from her toes to her heels._

_"Home?" Nausika asks in confusion, brow knitted together in a deep furrow._

_"Mmhmm. You have to go home to your new family." _

_"New family? I don't have a new family. You're my family." Nausika argues and Chidori giggles behind a small fist._

_"I know that Onee-san, but I'm not there anymore. Your new friends are your family. Like that cute Shizuo guy! He's dreamy looking!"_

_At the younger woman's bright eyed gushing, Nausika balks in surprise before her face falls. "Shizuo…" She's ashamed to admit it but she had forgotten all about him for a moment. How could she forget about Shizuo?_

_The brunette smiles sweetly at her sister with that wise look of understanding of hers, "I love you Onee-san, and I'll always miss you. I'm glad we got to see each other again. But, now don't take this the wrong way when I say this, I don't want to see you again for a very long time."_

_Nausika scoffs out a laugh and rubs the back of her head. "Yeah, I think the quiet would do me some good."_

_"Ooo! Onee-san is so stingy! Just for that, I'm not going to let you name your first born after me!" Chidori cries with a stomp of her foot before her exaggerated anger is washed away into a soft smile again as she dashes the last few steps between them to embrace her older sister. "You have to live for the both of us now Onee-san. You have to cut your hair short and get married and go back to Paris to get those pastries we stood in line for for hours but were sold out by the time we got to the front. You have to go to Thailand and all those other places we said we'd go and do all those things we said we'd do. And when you're old and grey, and your grandkids are having grandkids, then you can come and see me and tell me all about it." Nausika nods her head beside Chidori, smiling even though hot tears stream down her face as her grip on her sister tightens. She could never say no to Chidori._

_ "It's time to wake up now Nausika. It's time to go home."_

* * *

Opening her eyes in the real world was much more difficult than it had been in her dream. Her lids are heavy and uncomplacent with the task of rising, but still begrudgingly do.

Unlike in her dream, the sudden rush of bright florescent light hurts her eyes and her vision swims for a moment before focusing on the beige ceiling above her.

She hears her chirping birds but, when her eyes shift over to the sound, she see that what she had thought had been birds in her dream was actually the chirping of a heart monitor. _'Where the hell am I?'_

"Hey, you're awake!"

Nausika's head lulls back over to the other side to see Shinra in the room's doorway. The young doctor bounds over with his normal enthusiasm, but halts when he nears the bed. Like a puppy who thinks about leaping on to its master's bed but remembers being scolded for it.

"Where am I?" The bedridden blonde asks, her voice scratchy and heavy from lack of use. She coughs for a moment and Shinra hands her a cup of water to quench her dry throat.

"You're in the guest bedroom of our apartment. We figured taking you to the hospital would be ill advised because of your ability. The doctors there wouldn't be as understanding as us."

"Us?" Nausika asks with an arched brow as she sits up. It's an arduous task after being prone for so long, her limbs and muscles stiff and fussy, but she manages.

"Oh, my father and I. He's a doctor too! Most of this higher grade stuff is his. He's fascinated with the supernatural and when I told him about you he jumped at the chance to look at you." Shirna explains while gesturing at the high performance medical equipment around the room.

"You mean experiment on me." She corrects, rubbing her throat as the soothing cool water rushes down,

Shinra chuckles. "Well, I guess that's a better way to put it. But don't worry, Shizuo threatened to break his spine if he touched you in anyway not indicative to medical care. He's very protective of you." At the mention of the other blonde Nausika visibly perks up in alarm. "Don't worry! Shizuo's fine. He's just in the shower. He hasn't left your side except to bathe now and then when we force him or to relieve himself. I was worried we'd have to put him in a bed next to you if you didn't wake up soon."

Nausika sighs in relief before looking sullenly into her cup. "How long was I out for?"

"It's been almost a week. You had everyone pretty worried."

"Everyone?" She asks curiously and Shinra beams.

"Of course! Shizuo, me, Celty, Simon, Dennis, Mikado, Anri, everyone was worried about you. Even Kasuka sent flowers." The spectacled brunette points over to a table and Nausika looks to see it littered with various bouquets of flowers and cards saying 'get well soon' on the from. "Celty's been taking care of them for you. She's really great with things like that."

"Tell her I said thanks." Nausika says, a hint of a smile on her face at how her 'new family' worried about her. Her smile then falls and she looks at Shinra seriously. "What happened to Dakota and Cowboy? And Saika?"

The young doctor sighs and scratches the back of his head. "They left after the fight. Shizuo was pretty upset that they were just going to bail on you like that, but they explained that it was for the best for now. They said they'd visit soon though. They told me to give you this." Shinra hands Nausika a manila envelope, unaddressed and remarkably plain.

The blonde takes it cautiously and opens it to deposit the contents on her lap. Shinra seems more surprised than her by her friend's 'gift'. But Nausika isn't surprised at all. She knows what the shattered cellphone, empty bullet casing, and garnet ring folded awkwardly in a cheap unsigned birthday card means. Vitalia is dead. Nausika is free. And that was her birthday from them since they would be too long gone to do it in person.

"Hey, it's your birthday?"

"It's the 28th*." She replies while collecting all the items except for the card to put them back in the envelope. "Can you throw this stuff out please?"

"Well, we'll definitely have to celebrate." Shinra comments after taking the parcel, as if he knows what this 'gift' means but has the good sense to not comment. "As for Saika, we gave it back to Anri."

"You should have thrown it in the ocean." Nausika grumbles while taking another sip of water.

Shinra smiles with a nod. "We thought about that. But even the slight chance that it could fall into someone else's hands was a chance to great. Anri seems to have the best level of control on it. So until we can figure out a way to perhaps destroy it permanently, it should be with her." He explains and she is loath to admit that she agrees.

Suddenly, the white noise of the shower cuts off and Shinra leaps out of his chair in a panic.

"Aww man! Shizuo's gonna be so mad! He's gonna kill me if he see you woke up and he wasn't here cause I made him take a shower! Do me a favor; just please pretend to still be asleep!" The young doctor says in a rush and Nausika can't help but laugh a little, even though it hurts.

She lies back down and closes her eyes in mock sleep just as the door opens.

"Ah Shizuo! You're back! Did you have a nice shower?"

She can't see it with her eyes closed but is sure Shizuo shrugs. "Yeah, it was ok." His voice is gruff and detached, like he's not even really there. There is the sound of a slight creak from the plastic chair again and she assumes its Shizuo sitting in it.

"Well, that's good. Oh look at that, it's almost lunch time! Hey, I'm gonna to take my beloved Celty out for food. Do you want anything?"

Nausika has to make a serious effort not to smile when she hears Shinra's horrible attempt to be nonchalant and equally awful attempt at a lie.

But Shizuo doesn't seem to notice as she hears him grumble a little through the whooshing sound of his hair when he shakes his head. "No, no thanks. But…maybe you could bring something back for Nausika? You know, for when she wakes up."

Nausika's breath catches in her throat as a large, warm hand covers hers. It pains her that Shizuo isn't even aware that she awake, but is so hopeful that she will wake up that he wants to make sure she has something to eat when she does. And yet, he sounds so positively heartbroken and forlorn that her own heart breaks for him. And she can't take it anymore.

Her slender hand squeezes Shizuo's back and she hears a soft gasp just before her teal eyes reopen.

She smiles up at the other blonde with a tired smile. "Hey you," Nausika says carefully, a nervous smile creeping on to her lips.

"Nausika…?" The strong man says just above a whisper as he looks at her complete awe, like he doesn't believe she's finally awake and looking up at him. Suddenly, he springs forward, enveloping her in an awkward embrace across her flat body and crying, "You're finally awake! You're ok!"

"Yeah, I'm ok." The former assassin confirms, stroking Shizuo's head as he tries to hold her.

"I was so worried! I was so scared you'd…that'd you'd never….Gah! Don't scare me like that you idiot!" Shizuo rambles and then scolds into her shoulder before clutching her tighter, clinging to her almost.

"Sorry, I'll try to be more considerate if I get ran through again."

"That's not funny!"

Shinra chuckles quietly from the doorway, trying to discreetly wipe tears from under his glasses, before he announces, "Well, we'll leave you two alone." He then leaves with the headless rider, despite her protests to see the awakened blonde before she's dragged away to lunch she won't eat.

The taller man doesn't seem to hear Shinra or care as he keeps holding Nausika like she'd disappear if he lets go.

And she basks in it for a moment, the rush of warmth through her chest form him and not from him as he clutches her and she continues to stroke his hair. "Yep, its official, you really need to get your hair redyed." She says after a moment to break the quiet tension creeping into the moment.

A laugh barks out of Shizuo's throat at her joke and he pulls back; just enough to rest his chin on her chest with a soft smile is on his face that Nausika returns before dropping her hand to stroke his cheek.

"I missed you." Shizuo confesses sullenly, as if the thought of her never coming back was still too fresh in his mind for him to bear.

"Well, I'm here now." She replies, before her gentle smile falls. She suddenly realizes that, along with his darkened roots, the space under Shizuo's eyes has gotten darker too. He feels a little thinner now, as well as pale. Nausika then understands now what Shinra had been talking about and a stone drops into her stomach. "I'm sorry." She says morosely, her guilt over everything that had happened as well as making Shizuo neglect his own health over her filling her up.

A gentle hand comes under her chin and tilts Nausika's face back towards its owner. Shizuo smiles and says, "For what?" And Nausika's throat clenches as the words she uses to sooth him are offered to her.

The blonde male leans in towards her, but Nausika turns her head back away. "Uh, I don't think you want to do that. I've been asleep for a week…"

Shizuo glares at her with a frown and turns her face back towards him. "Don't care!" He growls before kissing her solidly on the mouth.

The blue highlighted blonde tries to struggle for a moment, but gives up after a few seconds and lets Shizuo kiss her.

Her lips are chapped, and she's sure her mouth tastes stale even though she's had some water. His faint stubble hurts her cheeks as it scratches against them. But still it's the best kiss she's ever had.

It's Shizuo who pulls away after a bit, but not far, pressing his forehead to hers. "I love you. Please don't leave me again." He says against her lips in earnest, clenching her hand tightly in his again as if still terrified she'd float away.

"I love you too. And I'll stay as long as you want me." Nausika replies with a sheepish smile, still worried that later he might not want her after everything that's happened.

"Hope you didn't make plans anytime this millennium."

The two of them laugh for a moment, reveling in the corny joke, before Nausika tilts her chin up to meet Shizuo again.

It felt good to be home.

* * *

_And everyone lived happily ever after! The End!_

_Special thanks to , Emerald Gaze, gzillafan, flyfly246, ShatteredSoul37, and guests for reviewing last time!_

_There will still be drabble posting in Side Stories when I have time. I just want to again say thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, and followed this story and me over the time this story has been active. I really enjoyed writing it for all of you and glad you all enjoyed reading it! :3_

_Thanks for reading!_

_*-Nausika's birthday is _**_November 28th 1986_**_. Making her a Sagittarius and a Tiger_


End file.
